


This Broken Road

by xBlackxRosexRebellionx



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Chapter 2 - not suitable/safe for work, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-28 00:49:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 34,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20957702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xBlackxRosexRebellionx/pseuds/xBlackxRosexRebellionx
Summary: Since Kalina Avery joined the group 4 months ago, Rick's been assigning her to go out on supply runs with Daryl. During their time working together as a team, the two have come to form an understanding. She's the ONE person Daryl trusts to have his back and he wouldn't trust anyone else with her safety. But what happens when they're subjected to long periods of time away from the rest of the group? Will their view of each other become skewed?





	1. This Is the Life

** Author’s Note: **

**There will still be thank you notes at the bottom of the chapter, so be on the lookout for those. I’m also still looking for people that are willing to read over future chapters of this story – or any of my stories for that matter – and help give me feedback – suggestions for revision (what parts they think work and which parts don’t work with explanations as to why they do or don’t work) – so that I can revise my chapters better before posting them. I don’t care if this person is a beta on Fanfiction or Archive either. They don’t have to have to be a grammar, punctuation, or spelling whiz either – and, _trust_ me, I’m not downing English majors because I _am_ one. I’m just saying, I don’t have special requirements, just as long as they’re willing to help and they can offer honest, helpful feedback.**

** _I want to hear from you_ ** **. The more detailed the review, the more I know about what parts you liked and what parts you didn’t like and why. This helps me gauge the readers’ reactions to my writing. It allows me to know what you want to read more of and what you don’t. It helps me to improve in the future and provide you with better chapters.**

**I didn’t use the entire lyrics from the songs I incorporated into this chapter. If you’d like to listen to the full songs – which I really recommend that you do, especially if you haven’t heard them before – I’m sure you can find them on Youtube – you’d be _amazed _at what you can find on that site. The names of the songs and the bands that sing them are listed at the bottom of the chapter above the author’s note at the end of the chapter – and the thank you notes are just below it.**

**That being said, I’ve blabbed enough. So read on, my friends.**

**This Broken Road**

** Chapter 1: This Is the Life **

_Oh the wind whistles down_  
The cold dark street tonight  
And the people they were dancing  
To the music vibe  
  
And you're singing the songs, thinking this is the life  
And you wake up in the morning and your head feels twice the size  
Where you gonna go?

_Where you gonna go?_

_Where you gonna sleep tonight?_

__  
And you're singing the songs, thinking this is the life  
And you wake up in the morning and your head feels twice the size  
Where you gonna go?

_Where you gonna go?_

_Where you gonna sleep tonight?_  
Where you gonna sleep tonight?  
  
So you're heading down the road in your taxi for 4  
And you're waiting outside Jimmy's front door  
But nobody's in and nobody's home till 4:00  
So you're sitting there with nothing to do  
Talking about Robert Ragger and his motley crew  
And where you gonna go?

_Where you gonna sleep tonight?_  
  
And you're singing the songs, thinking this is the life

_And you wake up in the morning and your head feels twice the size_

_Where you gonna go?_

_Where you gonna go?_

_Where you gonna sleep tonight?_

_And you're singing the songs, thinking this is the life_

_And you wake up in the morning and your head feels twice the size_

_Where you gonna go?_

_Where you gonna go?_

_Where you gonna sleep tonight?_

_Where you gonna sleep tonight?_

** _–=Daryl=–_ **

Daryl Dixon pulled up the winding drive, following the twists and turns until he put the truck in park in front of an old, abandoned farmhouse. The grass that surrounded the house was nearly knee high. The white paint was peeling off the sides of the house and the railing around the porch hadn’t been touched up since the house was last painted either. The windows were covered with dust from years’ worth of neglect and the glass was even broken in a few places.

“This place looks as good as any,” he heard the raven-haired woman riding shotgun tell him as she peered up at the farmhouse with those emerald eyes.

“Ya said that ‘bout the last three places and they turned out ta be a fuckin’ bust,” he retorted.

He wasn’t in the mood for optimism, not that Kalina was a real optimist either. She was just as big of a realist as he was, and it had shocked him at first. She was never one to get her hopes up, just like he didn’t let himself get _his_ hopes up. Hell they had more in common than he cared to think about. Maybe that was why Rick was always sending them out on supply runs together. Well, that and the fact that they were the only two Rick could trust to actually come _back_ with the supplies they’d found.

Rick had been assigning Kali to go out on supply runs with Daryl ever since Rick had discovered that Kali was just as tough and quick-witted as Daryl was. She worked well with Daryl because she was the only one out of the whole damn group that actually took the time to figure him out and she didn’t push him, didn’t pry at him. She gave him his space, didn’t pester him if he didn’t want to talk, didn’t ask him about subjects she knew he wasn’t comfortable discussing.

This was the reason Rick always sent Daryl and Kalina out on errands. They were the two-man team he knew would come back alive, the two people he knew he could count on. They had each other’s backs, despite the fact that they were nothing more than friends. And “friends” might’ve even been stretching it a bit. It wasn’t that they didn’t get along. They did. But they weren’t really the kind of people that got attached to anyone, yet another similarity that the two shared. They preferred, instead, to keep their distance from the rest of the group and even each other when they weren’t assigned to work together.

“Don’t be a jackass, Dixon,” Kali huffed before reaching out to push the passenger side door of the new Chevy – the one Daryl had managed to find the keys for at one of the farms they’d found – open, “Just ‘cause you’re tired and fuckin’ grumpy doesn’t mean that my patience isn’t wearin’ any thinner either. Let’s just do this and get it the fuck over with.”

He gave a loud sigh but nodded. She was the first one out of the truck and she didn’t wait for him like he’d thought she would either. Instead, she started right for the house, pulling her knife out of the sheath on her belt and keeping her eyes and ears sharp as she approached the old, abandoned farmhouse.

Daryl hopped out of the truck and grabbed his crossbow and his pack from the back seat before starting for the house, his long legs eating up the distance that separated them quickly and easily as he followed after her. When they reached the steps to the porch, she started up them first, cringing and freezing in place when they both heard the loud _CREEEEEAK_ the second wooden step made.

Daryl’s crystal blue orbs met her bright green ones and he nodded to her after a few moments, silently telling her that it was okay to continue since no danger had presented itself yet.

Kali nodded and started up the steps again, relieved when none of the others voiced a groan beneath her feet.

Like the house, the old door was in pretty poor shape. The wood was cracked here and there, the white paint chipping. It had a small, glass window in the center of the upper half of the door, the faded gold design that spiraled across the glass barely visible through the thick layer of dust that had gathered over it.

They made it to the front door and he held his hand out, gazing at her and giving her that silent “Stay put” look. She just nodded to him, letting him know that she understood what he wanted her to do. He was thankful that they could communicate with their facial expressions, hand gestures, and body language in times like these, times when they didn’t know what lied ahead.

Kali was more of a thinker, more of a doer, than a talker. That had aided them in developing the silent form of communication that they used, especially while they were out on a run. While they knew next to nothing about one another’s lives before the apocalypse, they’d come to know each other’s actions and thoughts quickly, learning them well enough to work together as an efficient team. In fact, they worked better with each other than they did with anyone else.

In the four months that Daryl had known Kalina since he’d stumbled onto her while he was out on a supply run, they’d come to read each other really well, which never ceased to surprise him since _no_ one but Kali had been able to read him. He’d always managed to mask his emotions in front of everyone else and they’d never known any different. But not Kali. She always managed to see _right_ through the front he put up, which pissed him off to no end.

Daryl was really good at reading people, due to the fact that he was hyper-vigilant because of everything he’d experienced in his fucked up life up to this point. But Kali was better at reading people in general than he’d ever known _anyone_ to be, himself included. It came in handy quite a bit. It often made him wonder what her past had been like, what her life had consisted of before the world had gone to shit. But her little talent was annoying as fuck when she tried to read him when he didn’t want to be read.

Daryl held his hand out again, gesturing for her to stay put before he jerked his head in the direction of the front door to let her know that he was going to go in first. Again, she nodded to him, waiting for him to slowly reach out and try the door handle, her knife poised in the air, ready to strike if need be. The door was unlocked, just like the rest of the houses they’d checked, and he pushed it open. It creaked and they froze in place, their eyes growing real wide and darting to meet each other’s gaze. If there were any walkers inside, they’d just alerted them to their presence. They held their breath as they waited, silently hoping that there weren’t any walkers in the house.

Finally, after waiting a few moments, Daryl nodded to her and she followed him into the house. He motioned with a little wave of his hand towards the kitchen for her to check that way before he gave a jerk of his head in the direction of the living room to let her know that he’d go that way. Kali just nodded and started in the direction of the kitchen while he started for the living room.

There was an old, box TV in the center of the living room, speakers built into the wooden frame that surrounded the TV. A large, faded, red and gold rug was laid out in front of a deep red, velvet couch with a cherry wood frame. A red brick fireplace was built into one wall and it had a black, metal grate in front of it. There was a large standing cabinet with various sets of china lining the shelves against another wall and a bookshelf filled with dust-covered paperbacks rested against the same wall, just a few feet away from the china cabinet.

He’d just finished making sure the living room was clear before he heard familiar footsteps. That was another thing the two of them had come to be familiar with. They’d learned to distinguish the sound of each other’s footsteps from that of walkers as well as other living humans’.

He jerked his head for the steps as Kali came out of the kitchen from a different doorway than the one she’d entered through. She nodded to him and got a firmer grip on the handle of her knife.

Daryl started up the steps first, his eyes roaming up the steps on the way and then around the hallway on the second floor once it came into view. He listened closely to see if he could hear anything but his and Kalina’s footsteps as she followed him closely.

They made it to the top of the stairs and she pointed to the doors on one side of the hall before giving a nod of her head in their direction. He nodded to her to let her know that she could clear those rooms and he’d take the ones on the other side of the hallway.

He found the bathroom first. It was clear. He found what looked like some sort of office, and it was clear too. He found that the last door was ajar just a crack and he eased his hunting knife out of the sheath at his belt, holding it up above his head with a firm grip on the handle even as he pushed the door open and stepped back. But he didn’t have time to react.

He heard the unearthly growl just before the he felt the weight of the fucking walker pushing against him, tackling him to the floor. His knife hit the hardwood floor and slid just out of his grasp as he struggled with the undead geek. Just seconds later, before he had time to get the upper-hand, he heard the sick, wet sound of something sinking into flesh. The walker slumped on top of him, lifeless, and he scrunched his face up in disgust as its god-awful breath hit him when its face landed just in front of his chin.

He heard the wet slide of a blade being pulled out of the walker’s skull just before he gave a firm shove at the walker’s chest, rolling it off of him. Kali wiped her blade on the side of her faded, holy jeans and tucked it back into the sheath at her belt before she reached down to offer him her hand, pulling him up onto his feet.

“Saved your ass, Dixon,” she pointed out as she picked up his hunting knife and handed it over to him, “You’re welcome.”

He glared at her and retorted, “I could’ve fought it off.”

She shrugged and said, “You’re right. You probably could’ve. Either way, I didn’t want another walker to deal with and I don’t exactly wanna be goin’ out on supply runs with Shane or Merle. So I took the liberty of savin’ your ass anyway.”

He rolled his crystal blue orbs at her and she rolled those emerald ones at him in return. It wasn’t the first time she’d saved his ass, much to his displeasure. But he’d saved hers a few times too. He didn’t trust _anyone_ to have his back like he trusted her. Even _Merle_ could prove to be unreliable at times.

He also didn’t like the idea of Rick sending Shane or Merle out on supply runs with Kali. It wasn’t that he was jealous. He just knew that Shane was reckless. He’d be liable to get Kali or both of them hurt. And he wouldn’t hesitate to leave Kali behind if it meant saving his own ass. And Merle… Well Merle was only out for himself. Daryl loved his big brother but Merle wasn’t exactly the kind to lay his life down for someone else. Merle only looked out for one person – Merle.

Daryl wasn’t stupid though. He’d seen the way Shane and Merle were always eyeing Kali up like his mom used to gaze at the bottles of Red Rooster Merlot in the liquor store when he was a kid. They thought she was a real treat and they were just _dying_ to try a taste of her. Just the thought of Rick sending Shane or Merle out on _any_ kind of errand with Kali made Daryl sneer. She was safest with him, where he knew that she’d have protection when she needed it, where he could see her and know that she was safe and comfortable. She was uneasy around Shane and Merle and it wasn’t hard to pick up on that. Hell the vibes just _rolled_ off of her. She got fidgety when she was around them, eager to get out of whatever situation involved having to deal with either of them. And, as much as he hated to admit it, Daryl wouldn’t put it past Shane or Merle to try to force themselves onto her either, _especially_ if there was alcohol involved.

“The place is clean,” she informed him, dragging him out of his thoughts, “Other than Stinky there that tried to get a nibble outta ya. I’m gonna head back downstairs and see what I can raid from the kitchen.”

He nodded to her and said, “I’ll see what I can find up here.”

Daryl searched through the cabinets and the medicine cabinet there in the bathroom, finding a few bottles of pain killers, a tube of Neosporin, and a First-Aid kit, which he stuffed into his pack. He checked the office but didn’t find anything of importance, so he moved onto the bedrooms. He found some clothes he thought that some of the women might able to fit into and a few shirts Rick could’ve worn but that was it. He just hoped to hell that Kalina had more luck that he’d had.

He made his way down the stairs and headed into the kitchen.

Kali didn’t even turn around as she announced, “I’m just finishin’ my inspection of the cabinets. There were some decent knives here in the kitchen so I set ‘em over there on the kitchen table. You’re the weapons expert. See if they’re useful for anything.”

He went over to take a look at the knives she’d laid out on the kitchen table, finding that there were five of them. He smiled to himself. She’d picked the best knives. They were hunting knives. The blades were slightly dull but he’d seen worse. With some sharpening, they’d be as good as new. They were made of steel or silver, nothing cheap. They’d clearly been used by their previous owner but Daryl would take better care of them than whoever had owned them before had. He’d be sure to keep them sharp for frequent use. He was just glad that they weren’t tarnished.

“Ya did good this time,” he praised her.

It wasn’t often that he praised her. Daryl wasn’t really one for giving praise. Usually he tried to downplay things. But, after the shitty day they’d had and the bad luck they’d run into while searching the other houses, he figured a little praise was in order this time.

He heard her continue to go through the cabinets as he began to pick the knives up and inspect them a little closer.

“Thank _God_,” she commented from where she was scouring the cabinets, “Food!”

He chuckled at that. But he was glad that she’d managed to find some loot. Hell they’d come up with damn near next to nothing all fucking day up to this point. He glanced down at the knives again and a small smile curled his lips. There was a boning knife, a carving knife, a skinning knife, and a couple Bowie knives, one slightly shorter than the other. He opened his pack and eased the knife holder out of it. He started slipping the knives into the knife holder as he waited for her to tell him what she’d found.

When she didn’t, he slipped the knife holder back into his pack and headed over to her.

He peered over her head, looking up into the nearly-empty cabinets and asking, “What’d ya find ta eat?”

“Not much,” she answered, “But enough to hold us over for the night.”

It wouldn’t be anything they could take back to the group, but it was better than nothing.

“Found a small box of white rice, a single can of sweet peas, and a roll of summer sausage. Once we cut that bad boy open though, it’ll need to be refrigerated or it’ll go bad. So we won’t be able to take it with us. I can fry that shit up and make us some dinner,” Kali informed him.

It might not be the best, but it was all they had. At least they’d have something to eat for the night.

He nodded to her and she found a couple of small pots, a cutting board, and a skillet.

“Hey pass me one of those knives, would ya?” she told him, holding her hand out towards him.

** _xoxoxoxoxo_ **

Daryl’s eyes fixed to the plate Kalina set on the table before him and his stomach chose that opportunity to give a loud growl.

She giggled and gestured to the loaded plate, prompting, “Well… Ya don’t just hafta stare at it, Dixon. Go ahead. Dig in.”

He didn’t have to be told twice.

He grabbed up his fork and dug in heartily, scooping a big bite of the concoction she’d made for them this time onto his fork and shoveling it towards his mouth. The food was still hot and it burnt his mouth, but he didn’t care. He had a plate full of food in front of him and they hadn’t had anything to eat today until this very moment. He didn’t care that it was some damn jumble of white rice, sweet peas, and fried summer sausage chunks all mixed together and he _sure_ as hell didn’t care that it was still steaming. It was food and he was a starving man.

“Careful,” Kali scolded gently as she took the seat across the table from him, “You’ll burn your mouth.”

He chose to ignore her, chewing quickly and swallowing it down so that the food wouldn’t sit in his mouth too long. He scooped another bite onto his fork and she rolled her eyes.

“Stubborn jackass,” she teased with a little laugh.

He looked over at her as he guided that forkful of food into his mouth.

He watched as she blew lightly on her own bite of food, trying to cool it down, before bringing it to her mouth.

“It’s not as bad as I thought it’d be,” she commented.

“’S all right,” he agreed.

Hell Kali could make a meal out of _anything_. He’d been quick to discover that while they were out on their supply runs. She’d even managed to make a meal out of a can of cat food and a half-empty bag of plain potato chips. With enough seasoning on the cat food and heating it up on the stove, it’d tasted good enough to dunk the chips into. Sure, it wasn’t some fancy cuisine, but it was all they’d had at the time and she’d made due instead of bitching around about it. She wasn’t one to bitch, a quality that he admired her for. It wasn’t a quality most women possessed and it _sure_ as hell made spending time with her easier than spending time with most of the other group members in general – but the female population in particular. It wasn’t that Daryl was sexist… He just found the women in their group to be annoying as hell and a bit overwhelming at times.

Kali was crafty and creative but he _hated_ how she was always putting everyone else’s needs before her own. She’d go without just so other members of the group could have and the rest of the group was starting to take advantage of her after learning that little habit of hers. And he _hated_ that. She was selfless, a trait that many people admired a person for. But it was a trait that had gotten too many people killed once the world had gone to shit.

In this world, the way it was now, a person had to look out for themselves. They couldn’t let others get the idea that they could always rely on them for everything. And they _sure_ as shit couldn’t always rely on others to provide for them, to protect them. And yet that was the solution the members of their group had come up with: Daryl and Kali will do it.

People sought every opportunity they got to take advantage of each other now. And he’d be _damned_ if he was going to let the rest of the group use Kali like they were always using him. It wasn’t that he had a little thing for her, because he didn’t. He just respected her.

She was the _only_ woman that he’d ever consider his equal instead of the weak, dependent things the rest of the women in the group had turned out to be. She could take care of herself and was happy to do so. The other women just bitched around when things didn’t go their way and expected the men to protect them and provide for them. While he believed that it was only right for a man to look out for the women and children, that didn’t mean that a woman shouldn’t learn how to protect herself and her kids, _especially_ with the damn zombie apocalypse going on. _Everyone _had to be able to defend themselves these days. The walkers weren’t picky about who they ate, as long as it was meat.

Kali gave a sigh between a couple bites and stated, “We’ll hafta keep lookin’. We haven’t found much to take back to the group.”

He just nodded. She was right.

“Well… I don’t know what _you’re_ gonna do but I’m gonna take a fuckin’ bath after we get done eatin’,” she informed him.

He just looked up at her and she pointed towards the second floor of the house with her fork, informing him, “That’s the first decent tub we’ve seen so far in the past two days and I wasn’t exactly too keen on askin’ Hershel to use the one in his house since I wasn’t one of the women that were in and outta there all that often. You might be alright with not showering for a fuckin’ month but_ I’m_ sure as hell not. That tub looked _mighty_ damn fine to me so I’m gonna use it while I’ve got the chance.”

“I wash up more than once a month,” he protested, a pout curling at his thin lips.

“Ya sure don’t smell like it,” she razzed playfully, laughing a little.

He gave a single snort of laughter and she pointed her fork at him from across the table, telling him, “You see, Daryl, a nice, long soak in a tub filled with hot water is one of the world’s seven greatest wonders.”

He chuckled at that and asked, “Oh yeah?”

She just nodded and he questioned, “And what are the other six?”

“That’s easy,” she answered, “Chocolate, sweet alcoholic beverages, a good night’s sleep, a pair of strong arms to cuddle up in, a soft bed with warm blankets, and corned beef hash.”

A small, crooked smirk curled at his lips.

She was a hell of a lot easier to please than other women and she was able to get by on next to nothing. He wondered if she’d always been like that. She wasn’t the kind to bitch and moan around about shit that didn’t please her. Instead, she just sucked it up and dealt with it, whether she liked it or not.

One thing he liked about her was the fact that she never pushed him like Carol did. There was an understanding between Daryl and Kali, one that had never been verbalized but was clearly understood. She wasn’t nosy like the other women of the group. She didn’t give a shit about the latest gossip or everyone’s dirty little secrets. Actually, she wasn’t much of a talker at all unless there was a tense, awkward silence or she’d been spoken to first.

Kali didn’t ask him personal questions and he didn’t ask her about her life before the damn walkers had taken over either. She gave him his time and his space when he needed it. She didn’t ask unnecessary questions or try to make a bunch of pointless small talk unless it was to try to lighten the mood. She didn’t try to prod him to talk about his fucking thoughts or feelings. She knew when to drop a subject if she figured out she’d hit a nerve when they were discussing something. She just let him be for the most part and he offered her the same sort of privacy and space when she needed it. That’s why they got along so well.

He just didn’t like how she always put his needs before her own when they were out on supply runs, just like she always put the group’s needs before her own. He absolutely _hated_ how she’d sneak things into her bag and try to give them to him later – whether it was his favorite kind of food or some clothes she thought he might like. She was always doing that shit, always thinking enough of him to find things for him on their supply runs.

It wasn’t that she was coming onto him like Carol always seemed to be doing. They were nothing more than friends, just like he and Carol were. Calling him and Kali “friends” was even stretching it a bit. They were two people that worked together as a team to get shit done. He was just glad that she wasn’t always trying to hit on him or push him to talk about shit like Carol did.

What he hated more than _anything_ though was the fact that Kali never expected anything from him. She was always willing to help him or any of the other members of the group and she always offered him things that she’d found during their supply runs. But she never asked for anything in return, not even food or protection. She could fend for herself, unlike the other women of the group, and she was just as capable of surviving on her own as Daryl was. Yet she stuck with the group because she thought it was the right thing to do, which was just another thing they had in common.

Like Daryl, she tended to steer clear from the group as much as she could. She kept her distance from the group, both socially _and_ physically. She set her camp up far away from the rest of the group, separating them with physical distance as well as setting up the boundaries emotionally inside of herself. It was something that he’d taken to doing after the group had set up camp there at Hershel’s farm too. Of course, part of his reason for keeping his distance from the group was the fact that they didn’t exactly get along with Merle either. And, sometimes, Daryl couldn’t exactly blame them. So he and Merle had set up camp away from the others to avoid any problems.

The thing that surprised Daryl the most was the fact that Kali even kept her distance from _him_, unless they were assigned to go out hunting together or to go on a supply run for the group.

He always knew where to find her if he needed to though. If she wasn’t in the small tent Shane had let her use, she was in Hershel’s stable, fawning over the horses. Apparently she was quite the animal lover, which had proven to be interesting on the few occasions Rick had asked her to tag along with Daryl when he went out hunting.

While she had great aim with a gun and she was just as good in close-combat with a knife, she just didn’t seem to have the heart to bring the animals down herself. She never hesitated to point them out and she could deal with them after they were dead. But she didn’t like to kill them and she _sure_ as hell hated to see them suffering or in pain. Hell she choked up when she heard a deer or a rabbit bleating in pain and turned her back while Daryl finished the job. If it was a walker, she wouldn’t have any problem taking it down. If it was someone that planned on harming her or another member of the group, she wouldn’t hesitate. But if it was an animal, she couldn’t bear to do it unless her life was in danger or she was starving.

“You gonna finish that, Dixon?” Kalina teased as she pushed herself back from the table, gesturing to the half-empty plate in front of him, “Hell you _always_ finish a meal before me. If ya don’t like it, you can dump it down the disposal. It won’t hurt my little feelings.”

That was another good thing about her. She wasn’t quick to take offense, like most of the other women in the group. She was the kind that you could be brutally honest with and she’d just take it in stride. If you liked her, fine. She’d be helpful and polite. But if you didn’t, she didn’t care. It didn’t make any difference to her and she didn’t make a big fuss about it either. No matter the situation, he’d come to learn that she always appreciated the truth over any lie, even if it might hurt her feelings or piss her off. She could always deal with the truth better. It was the realist in her.

She was always brutally honest with him too, and he’d come to expect it. She’d tell him what she thought, whether she thought he’d like what she had to say or not. She didn’t censor it or sugarcoat it either. She just told it like it was, which he appreciated, for the most part. It was when she _wasn’t_ honest with him that he grew suspicious.

“Nah. Food’s all right,” he told her, “Just thinkin’ ‘s all.”

She nodded to him and placed her hand on his shoulder, giving it the briefest of squeezes before she took her empty plate and her fork over to rinse it off in the sink.

She wasn’t like Carol. She didn’t try to flirt with him or press kisses to his face. She didn’t crowd him or push him. Hell she wasn’t really one for touching other people and she didn’t really like to be touched either, which was yet _another_ thing they had in common. But the small gesture she’d just dealt him was easy to understand. She’d never ask him what was bothering him unless she thought it was a significant problem and that it needed to be addressed. Instead, she left him to deal with his own shit unless she thought he was really struggling and needed some help. The slight squeeze on his shoulder had been an “I understand. I’m here if you wanna talk.” gesture.

“Well, I’m gonna go take a bath,” she announced before heading out of the kitchen.

He shook his head at himself and returned his attention to his food. It didn’t take long to make it pull the disappearing act and he rinsed his plate and fork off before grabbing his pack and heading up the stairs.

He made his way into the bedroom closest to the bathroom and set his pack down in front of the foot of the bed. He heard the water running in the bathroom for a while before she turned it off. He heard her give a moan of approval as he kicked his boots off and climbed up onto the bed, lying back with his crossbow beside him.

He sighed as he stared up at the ceiling, his arms crossed underneath his head, his big hands cradling the back of his head. He’d let her sleep first while he took watch. He knew that it would lead to a little argument, that she’d insist that he slept first. She always did. And she made an art out of surviving without much sleep. It was nothing for her to get by on five or six hours of sleep. She could manage on even less when it was required of her too. Like Daryl, she was a restless sleeper and she didn’t sleep nearly as long as the others of the group did.

Daryl found his mind wandering. He wondered if Merle had gotten himself into any trouble during his absence. He wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he had. Merle didn’t really “play well with others”, as Rick put it. Unlike Daryl, Merle tended to be bold and shameless. He’d flirt with the women like it was some kind of professional sport and the rest of the men were his opponents. He’d make crude comments to the women in hopes of “charming the pants right off of them”. But it never got him anywhere. Hell _none_ of the women in that group were even _remotely_ interested in Merle. But that didn’t stop him.

Merle had an even shorter fuse than Daryl did too. Shit he’d jump into a fight over anything, over nothing at all. “Conduct Disorder” was what he’d told Daryl the psychologist at one of the juvenile detention centers he’d been held in had called it. While he didn’t know what Conduct Disorder was, Daryl knew there was _something_ wrong with his big brother. But it was to be expected, considering their fucked up childhood, their rough upbringing. Daryl didn’t want to know what the damn shrinks would try to diagnose _him_ with. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good. He knew that much.

Merle had quite a few issues that got him into trouble with the group though. For one thing, he was _way_ too simple-minded. For another, he never knew when to keep that big mouth of his shut. He wasn’t real big on helping others either, a quality that people in any group had to have in order to fit in. He was irrational and unpredictable, two traits that made the rest of the group _very_ uneasy when they were in his presence.

Daryl just hoped that he wouldn’t come back to the farm to find that Merle had gone and gotten himself kicked out of the group.

** _xoxoxoxoxo_ **

Daryl was surprised by how long Kalina spent in the damn tub. Hell she’d been in there for damn near an hour!

“Daryl?” she asked, when she finally came out of the bathroom.

“In here!” he called to her.

She walked through the doorway of the bedroom he’d chosen for them to use for the night with a grin stretching from one ear to the other. Her shaggy, jet-black pixie cut was soaking after her bath, her long bangs clinging to her face. She shook her hair out like a dog and he couldn’t help but laugh. Those emerald eyes met his sapphire blue ones and she giggled.

He discovered that she’d pulled on a plain, ribbed, black tank top and a pair of baggy, black, polyester shorts that came to stop just below her knees – her “basketball shorts” as she liked to call them – to go with it. Her tiny feet were bare.

“Well… I’m good and prunified,” she announced, “That was a _damn_ good soak. You oughta try one every once in a while, Dixon.”

“Ya never take a shower for that fuckin’ long,” he pointed out.

“Showers are different, Daryl,” she insisted, “I can be out of a shower in 20 minutes or less. My fastest recorded shower was five minutes I think. But _nothing_ beats a long soak in a hot bath. It relaxes all your muscles and clears your mind.”

“Thanks, Dr. Phil,” he razzed as he pushed himself off the bed and started over for his pack, “Now that you’re out, I can _finally_ take a fuckin’ shower.”

She rolled her eyes but went over to set her pack next to the spot where he had his. He picked his up and they stood up at the same time, their faces just inches apart. Their eyes grew real wide and she was quick to step back even as he did the same.

“Well…! I’m _wide_ awake after that bath,” she commented, “So I’ll take first watch.”

“No ya won’t,” he argued as she started over to the bay window there in the bedroom, “Ya can sleep there on the bed and I’ll keep watch first, just as soon as I get done with my shower.”

She sighed. Apparently she’d known this was coming too.

“Daryl –,” she started.

“No,” he interrupted her, gesturing to the bed, “I’m takin’ the first watch. And I’m not gonna fuckin’ argue around about it either.”

She cut him a little glare but went over to take a seat on the ledge of the bay window there in the bedroom.

He nodded, letting her know that he approved of her compliance, and headed out of the room.

He took a little longer than he’d intended to in the shower. He’d been quick to wash up but he’d enjoyed the steady, hot spray so damn much he’d decided to repeat the process and just stand under the water for a bit, letting the water cascade down over his aching muscles. Kalina was right. It _was_ a damn good feeling.

When he’d finished with his shower, he headed back into the bedroom and closed the door behind him, making sure to lock it, just in case any damn walkers came shuffling into the house in the middle of the night. Granted, a locked door wouldn’t stop them, but at least they wouldn’t be able to turn the knob and shuffle right on in. They’d have to tear the door down first. So it would slow them down a bit, at the very least.

He went over to set his pack down in front of the foot of the bed and looked over to where Kali sat perched at the window, gazing out at the property the house was sitting on as the moonlight flooded down, illuminating it.

He cleared his throat and she looked over at him. He gestured to the bed with a wave of his hand and she sighed but hung her head and pushed herself off the ledge of the window, starting over towards the bed. She’d come to learn that she had to pick her battles when it came to him, and she’d been smart to do so quickly.

When they’d first started getting assigned to go out on supply runs together four months ago, she’d fought him on _everything_. And she was just as fucking stubborn as he was. But, eventually, she’d learned to just pick her battles because neither of them would ever back down and it just led to really long, awkward glaring contests until one of them finally caved. He’d been quick to learn that she wouldn’t back down for _anything_ if she felt strongly about something though, whether she was for it or against it. He couldn’t win those battles.

She knew how to get under his skin though and Daryl _hated_ that. While she didn’t talk as much as the other women of the group did, she could still give him the silent treatment and he hated _that_ too. He could handle silence for long periods of time but not when he knew that she was pissed at him. While she wasn’t much of a talker, there was a difference between her naturally quiet attitude and the pissed off presence he felt during her silent treatments.

Kali made her way over to her bag and reached down to pull something out of it. She tossed it across the room to him and he caught it against his chest. He looked down at it, smirking when he discovered that it was a pack of cigarettes – a _full_ pack of cigarettes. And they were Marlboro Reds… his favorite.

“You’re welcome,” she mumbled before tugging the covers on the bed back and inspecting it.

Once she decided that it was all right, she slid under the covers and pulled them up over herself. She was one of those “under the covers” girls as she called herself. She just couldn’t sleep without covers, even if it was 100 degrees and it was just a thin sheet. He thought it probably had something to do with the fact that she snuggled up to the blankets, that she pulled them clear up to her chin and curled up into a ball, tucking her legs up and her face down.

It didn’t take her long to fall asleep and he climbed up onto the seat at the bay window, peering out into the moonlight as he tapped the pack of smokes against the palm of his hand a couple times. He ripped it open and popped the top up to pull one out with his lips, fishing into his bag for the Zippo lighter he always carried with him. It wasn’t often that they got cigarettes so he was going to enjoy these nicotine sticks by damn. He lit the cigarette and took a long drag, slowly blowing the smoke out as his eyes roamed over the property the farmhouse sat on.

** _xoxoxoxoxo_ **

Daryl heard Kalina gasp and jerked his head around to look over at her just in time to see her sit bolt upright in the bed. It was nothing new. Hell she was a fitful sleeper half of the damn time when they went out on supply runs. But he never asked about her nightmares, just like she never prodded him to tell her about it when he woke himself up because he was fussing in his sleep. He’d never known anyone to be as restless of a sleeper as he was until he’d met her. And, if he was honest, he didn’t know which of them was worse.

Kali was quick to slide from the bed instead of trying to go back to sleep, so it must’ve been a nightmare that had really shaken her. Sometimes she’d lay back down and try to go back to sleep. Other times, she insisted on switching with him so that she could take watch and he could sleep. He never asked her about the nightmares because they were her own personal demons, just like she never asked him about his own. She respected his privacy and he respected hers. But it was a little habit they’d gotten into, switching watch when one or the other of them had had a particularly unnerving nightmare and couldn’t get back to sleep. They figured, if they couldn’t sleep, at least the other person could try to catch some sleep.

“I’ll take watch,” she informed him, starting over towards the window, “You need to get some sleep.”

Rather than argue with her, he just nodded and headed over for the bed, letting her take his post at the window.

He flopped onto the bed, not bothering with the covers. He saw her reach up to rub at her arms as she looked out the window, working her hands up and down the length of her bare arms. She rubbed at them furiously, almost as if she was scrubbing at them. She reached a shaky hand up to brush her shaggy swoop bangs out of her eyes as she gazed out the window. Those bright green eyes held that distant expression, that vacant stare, as she looked out into the night.

She was clearly in a different time, a different place. He rolled over to face the wall, giving her some privacy. Hell she’d offered him the same courtesy more times than he could count so he’d leave her to her thoughts. She was having a personal moment, clearly lost in thought about whatever it was that had haunted her dreams. He wouldn’t intrude.

Instead, he closed his eyes and tried to will himself to fall asleep.

** _~*Kalina*~_ **

** **

Kalina Avery rubbed her hands up and down over her arms, unconsciously trying to scrub herself clean. She shook her head hard, trying to shake the vivid images of her nightmare from her head. It didn’t matter that the fucker was probably dead somewhere, a rotting corpse. Despite all the ways he’d enjoyed watching her suffer, she _knew_ that there was no way in _hell_ he would’ve made it through this.

Yet, despite the years of not having dealt with him, he still plagued her dreams, still haunted her in both her unconscious thoughts as well as her subconscious mind when she was awake. She just couldn’t seem to escape him. She was glad that Daryl wasn’t the kind to press her for information. She wouldn’t have told him anyway, not even if he would’ve tried to pull the information out of her. Some secrets were far too deep, too dark, to share. But she knew that Daryl understood. He seemed to be pretty haunted himself, fussing in his sleep, mumbling shit sometimes when he didn’t think she could hear it, keeping to himself when they were in the presence of the rest of the group. She’d seen all the signs, just like he’d seen all of hers. But he didn’t press her for information and she let him have his privacy in return. There was a mutual respect between the two of them and she was grateful for that.

She gazed out the window, her emerald eyes raking over the tall grass that blew lightly in the late night breeze. All was calm, not a danger in sight. She rested the side of her head against the cold glass and tried to calm her thoughts, tried to regulate the rhythm of her heartbeat. It was always like this. Seeing him, hearing his voice, even in her dreams, always seemed to spark the same fear and anxiousness inside of her, made it swell up and threaten to consume her. Even after _years_ without having to deal with him, having to see him, he could still strike terror into her. He could always shake her clear down to her core. She wished desperately that she could just forget that it had ever happened, but she knew that it was pointless.

She’d never forget, no matter how long she lived. Some memories just never died, especially the traumatic ones.

She felt something wet sliding down her cheek and reached up to wipe at it, sighing and rolling her eyes at herself as she realized that she was crying. She was quick to wipe at her eyes and steal a peek over at Daryl.

Good. He still had his back to her. He hadn’t seen her. There was only _one_ thing she hated more than someone seeing her cry and that was hoarking. Crying always made her feel weak, vulnerable, hopeless. She had to either be in extreme physical pain or be very emotionally distraught to cry. She’d learned at a _very_ early age that it never did her any good to cry. It was just a waste of time and a waste of tears. The world wasn’t going to stop and wait for her to recompose herself, so she just had to suck it up and deal with it, whatever “it” might be.

She stole another glance over at Daryl and heard him snoring lightly. He’d always been good about giving her some privacy when she needed it, giving her space when she needed time to herself or time to cool down. There was no one else she’d rather be assigned to go on supply runs with. And it wasn’t even like she had feelings for Daryl, nothing more than the partnership that they shared when they were out on a run together at least. He just knew her better than any of the others did. He understood her and they were able to communicate without even having to say a word. They worked well as a two-man team, capable of completing whatever task was assigned to them quickly and efficiently. They never failed to deliver, even if they had to improvise. But more than that, Daryl _respected_ her.

Kalina wasn’t stupid. She’d seen the way the other men in the group looked at her. Hell both Merle _and_ Shane looked at her like women looked at Ghirardelli’s chocolates when they were on their period, like they had a craving and it wouldn’t go away until they got a taste. They hadn’t been shy about their advances either. Even T-Dog flirted with her. Dale was more of a father figure than anything and she avoided Hershel unless she really had to deal with him, due to the fact that he wasn’t overly pleased by Rick’s group being there on his farmland. Glenn was after Maggie like flies on shit and there was no denying it. And Rick was always too damn busy, worrying about an ever-bitching Lori and a constantly-disappearing Carl to worry about anything else.

Of course, Kali didn’t miss the way that Carol watched her every move, especially when she was around Daryl. Lori was the same way when Rick came to talk to her or ask her for a favor. Lori was _always_ scrutinizing Kali and Carol seemed to think that she was just going to swoop right in and steal Daryl away from her. In all due reality, Kali would _never_ be interested in Rick – he just wasn’t her type – and Carol had never had Daryl to begin with. And she found Andrea glaring or scowling at her every time she turned around, partly due to the fact that Dale had come to favor Kali over Andrea – who had always been his favorite before Kali had come along – and partly because of the fact that Kali had unfortunately managed to catch Shane’s attention somehow. She knew that Andrea’s hatred was spurred by the fact that the men in the group were very interested in her. But she wasn’t interested in any of them.

So it was no fucking wonder why she kept to herself, why she avoided everyone else. It also explained why she preferred to spend her time with Hershel’s horses. Animals were a _hell_ of a lot easier to trust than humans. Even walkers were easier to trust than humans. You _knew_ that a walker was going to try to eat you, regardless of how mangled and gnawed on they were or whether or not they had known you before they’d died and become one of those shuffling creeps. They had one thing and one thing _only_ on their mind: to feed on anything, living or dead. Humans just acted nice and waited until the right moment, when you least expected it, before they stabbed you in the back or tried to use you to their advantage.

Kali wasn’t stupid. She’d figured all this out after enough experiences in which people she’d _thought_ were people she could trust had turned on her. Animals loved you unconditionally. They’d be faithful and helpful companions until they died. People, on the other hand, were selfish and unpredictable, _especially _after the apocalypse had broken out.

Kali had learned to read people, starting from a very early age and getting better and better with time. She could read anyone, even Daryl Dixon, and she knew that he _hated_ that. No one else could read him. But she could. It was easy for her to read a person. They gave so much away, even if they were trying to hide their emotions. Their body language spoke volumes about their intentions. Their facial expressions conveyed their feelings. But _nothing_ gave a person away more than their eyes.

That old expression “The eyes are the portal to a person’s soul” was very true. A person could lie through their speech, their body language, sometimes even their facial expressions. They could mask their emotions if they had enough practice. But their eyes _never_ lied. If you really wanted to get an accurate reading from a person, you looked into their eyes and searched there to see what they were thinking, what they were feeling.

That ability had saved her ass more times than she cared to admit, especially while she’d been doing her internship and later, after she’d been hired on at the same place. She’d honed the skills she’d acquired throughout her childhood, mastering the ability to gauge a person’s responses and predict their actions. It was why she’d been hired instead of the other people that had applied, even though she lacked the “experience in the field”. She’d impressed her employers and it had paid off.

But Kali’s ability to read people had developed in part because of her ability to mask her own emotions and responses. It had been one of her coping mechanisms. Over the years, Kali had come to build up walls around her heart and her mind, walls so high, so thick, that no one could penetrate them. She never let those walls down for _anyone_. Not anymore. They’d only hurt her in the end, just like all the others before them. It was better to never get attached to someone and not get hurt than to let yourself form bonds and attachments to people and get hurt time and time again.

“Reactive Attachment Disorder”. That was what they called it. The inability or lack of desire to form attachments to individuals due to neglect, abuse, or other maltreatment during childhood. Some children formed Reactive Attachment Disorder, which Kali had regretfully discovered she had many of the symptoms of – along with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – while other children formed bonds with anyone, desperate for someone to love them since they had been starved of love as a child – Disinhibited Attachment Disorder. In fact, though she’d never bring it up with Daryl, she often suspected that the younger Dixon brother might also suffer from RAD. He distanced himself from others, avoided social interaction whenever possible, didn’t seem to have any desire in forming bonds with any of the group members, and even went so far as to lash out at others when they made an effort to reach out to him. Kali was no stranger to the symptoms of RAD. It had become one of the many coping mechanisms her mind had developed in order to deal with her fucked up life.

During her childhood, she’d slipped in and out of this “numb” phase, in which her emotions had pretty much just shut down and she’d run on auto-pilot. She hadn’t felt _anything_, not happiness or sorrow, not pain or anger, not even excitement. And it was safest for her mental state when she slipped into her numb phases. She’d been pretty much numb throughout her high school years until she’d managed to escape the hell that was her life and head off to college. After that, there had been the work force. But the people were all the same. They were only out for themselves and they didn’t give a shit about her. She’d just been biding her time, trying to make a decent living for herself. Until she’d found _him_.

There had been _one_ man, _one_ person, that she’d let through those walls. And she’d regretted it ever since. Well… She couldn’t really say that. She hadn’t regretted the time she’d spent with him, the life they’d built together. She hadn’t regretted the love he’d showered on her or the deep, intense love she’d felt for him in return. Julian had been her heart, her soul, her _everything_, despite how cliché it sounded. And he’d been taken from her, just like the few other good things she’d been granted in life.

She’d _never_ forget his selflessness, even in the moments of his death, as he’d tried to barricade the door with his body as the walkers threw themselves against it. She’d _never_ forget him shouting and waving for her to run, to go, to get as far away from there as possible. She’d _never_ forget watching with horror and tears pouring down her cheeks as the zombies had made their way into the room and ripped him limb from limb. He’d rasped two words while gazing into her eyes as he drew his last breaths: “Love… you…”.

Kalina gave a little sniff and reached up to wipe at her eyes again. She had to change the course of her thoughts or she’d slip into that dark place again. That was four months ago, the same day Daryl had found her fighting her way through a swarm of walkers.

She forced herself to focus on the task at hand though, her eyes roving over the property the farmhouse they were staying in was built on. She couldn’t slack off on the job when their lives could be at stake.

** _********_ **

Kalina woke with a start as she felt a hand on her shoulder, gently shaking her. She gasped and her bright green eyes snapped wide open as she jerked away from the touch, quickly reaching for her knife at the sheath on her belt.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! _Easy_ now,” she heard a familiar voice caution.

She gave a sigh of relief and eased her hand away from the sheath as she realized that it was just Daryl. But if it was Daryl that had woken her… that meant that she’d fallen asleep on watch.

“Fuck!” she cursed, “Damn it, I’m sorry. The last thing I remember was starin’ out at the fuckin’ grass…”

Her eyes roamed over the tall grass again, finding that the sun was shining down on it now. The sun wasn’t up too far yet though so it was still early morning, probably 7:00 or so.

Instead of scolding her like she’d expected though, Daryl just headed over to grab his pack and slung it over his shoulder, his trusty crossbow hanging off the other one.

“Right,” she said, “We should go. The sooner we get movin’, the more houses we can search.”

Kali felt Daryl’s eyes on her as she made her way over to pick up her pack. She’d made a quick pit stop and changed back into her faded, holey jeans before Daryl had taken his turn in the bathroom. But she’d felt his eyes on her once more as he followed her down the stairs. Hell, she felt his eyes on her clear out to the damn truck! But she tried to ignore it, setting her pack on the floorboard there in the passenger side of the truck before climbing on up into the truck.

Daryl set his crossbow and his bag against the back of the driver’s seat to ensure that they wouldn’t get jostled before making his way to the driver’s side door and tugging it open. She closed the door behind her and stared out the window as he fished the keys out of his jeans’ pocket and slid in behind the wheel. He fired the truck up and she tried to ignore the glances he kept stealing over at her after he pulled out onto the main road.

But ignoring him proved to be damn near impossible when she could practically _feel_ his eyes boring into her.

She gently lifted Daryl’s arm to get him to move it off of the console between them, feeling him jerk it away from her. He didn’t like to be touched, but she could understand that. She didn’t either.

She muttered a quick, “Sorry” before reaching out to fumble with the clasp on the console. She popped it open and took a peek inside, grinning to herself as she found the previous owner’s stash of CDs.

“All right, let’s see who owned ya before Dixon got his hands on ya,” she commented, more to herself than Daryl as she unzipped the CD holder and started flipping through it.

A huge grin stretched clear across her face as she discovered that there was quite a nice selection of CDs to choose from. Whoever had owned this truck before them was a godsend in her book. There were Marilyn Manson CDs, Avenged Sevenfold CDs, The Cult CDs, Combichrist CDs, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, and AC/DC CDs. There were metal, hard rock, rock, and classic rock CDs of all kinds. Hell the CD holder was nearly full!

“Ha _ha!_ Fuckin’_ jackpot_, baby!” Kali cried gleefully, snagging a CD out and turning the stereo of the truck on.

She slid the CD in and pressed play. She flipped through the songs on the CD until she found the one she wanted and grinned from ear to ear, zipping the CD holder up and gently easing it back into the console. Daryl’s arm was quick to resume its place on the console between them and she gazed out the window as a familiar song started to play.

She rarely ever sang in front of anyone, usually preferring to just hum along if she knew a song, but she chose to sing today. She knew that Daryl was stealing glances at her and her nerves were already worn a little thin, thanks to last night and that morning.

__  
  
This'll hurt you worse than me.  
I'm weak, seven days a week.  
Don't run from me. I won't  
Bother counting one, two, three...  
  
I don't know which me that I love.  
Got no reflection.  
I don't know which me that I love.  
Got no reflection.  
  


_Oh, ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah, oh_

_Oh, ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah, oh_

_Oh, ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah, oh_

__  
This'll hurt you worse than me.  
I'm weak, seven days a week.  
Don't run from me. I won't  
Bother counting one, two, three...  
  
I don't know which me that I love.  
Got no reflection.  
I don't know which me that I love.  
Got no reflection.  
  


“The fuck kinda music you listen to?” Daryl questioned when the song had ended.

Kali shrugged her shoulders and stated, “Whatever catches my interest. I never was one to walk the beaten path though. I was never a follower. I did my own thing. So, I tend to like shit that not too many other people do.”

She heard another familiar song come on and she grinned from ear to ear.

“I think this one is _perfect_ for our current situation,” she pointed out, “It’s called Arma-goddamn-motherfucking-geddon. And we just so _happen _to be in the middle of the fucking zombie apocalypse.”

She smirked over at him and waggled her dark brows before bopping her head along to the beat of the song and starting to sing along.

_Death to ladies first, then the gentlemen_  
All sorts of tax-free facelifts, abortion, nervous breakdance  
Satanic girls gone wild, truly fucking suicidal  
  
First you try to fuck it, then you try to eat it  
If it hasn't learned your name, you better kill it before they see it  
First you try to fuck it, then you try to eat it  
If it hasn't learned your name, you better kill it before they see it  
  
It's arma-goddamn-motherfucking-geddon  
(Fuck, eat, kill, now do it again)  
It's arma-goddamn-motherfucking-geddon  
(Fuck, eat, kill, et cetera)

_On the news, or is it the noose_

_They say results may vary_  
Side effects all vary  
Arma-goddamn-motherfucking-geddon  
  
Fuck the goddamned TV and the radio  
And fuck making hits, I'm taking credit for the death toll  
It's arma-goddamn-motherfucking-geddon

_It's arma-goddamn-motherfucking-geddon_

_It's arma-goddamn-motherfucking-geddon_

“You’ve got a twisted fuckin’ sense of humor, ya know that?” she heard Daryl ask her.

She just shrugged her shoulders and replied, “So sue me. At this point, money won’t getcha anywhere though.”

He chuckled at that.

It was true though. Money wouldn’t get a person anywhere now. The government sure as hell wouldn’t have to worry about the damn economy now. There _was_ no fucking economy! And there was no government either. It was every man for himself, or every _group_ of men for themselves.

“Well I could play somethin’ else,” Kali offered, “But it’s all rock, hard rock, classic rock, or metal, Dixon. So pick your poison.”

She giggled at that and he stole a glance over at her, his brows wrinkling in confusion.

“Don’t you get it?” she asked him, her own raven-colored brows wrinkling now, “You know… Poison? As in the classic rock band from the 80s?”

He just blinked and she gasped.

“Oh… my… _God!_ Seriously? You’ve never heard of them?” she questioned in disbelief, her eyes growing real wide.

He just looked ahead at the road again and she asked, “So what _did_ you listen to before the world went to shit?”

Daryl shrugged his broad shoulders and answered, “Lynard Skynard, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Hank Williams Jr., Alabama, stuff like that.”

She couldn’t help but laugh at that. He was your “typical hick” then in that respect. But he wasn’t your “typical hick” in most respects. People falsely labeled him _all_ the damn time. Daryl might’ve been a redneck but that didn’t mean he was stupid.

“What’s so fuckin’ funny?” he practically growled as she shook her head a little and laughed.

“Nothin’,” Kali answered with a little smile, glancing out the window again, “Just figured somethin’ else out about ya I guess.”

“Like what?” he pressed.

“Oh… Like you’re a southern rock junkie,” she teased lightly, smiling and laughing to let him know that she was just teasing with him.

He gave her little glare but she could see from the amusement shining in those crystal blue orbs that he was just teasing too.

“Yeah and you’re a metal head,” he razzed right back.

She gave a bright smile at that and gazed out the windshield ahead of them.

** _********_ **

Kalina had one more room to check downstairs in the house that they were currently checking out. She pushed the door open and her chest tightened. She swallowed the big lump in her throat even as she felt the back of her eyes sting as tears filled them. She choked on a sob as she brought a hand up to cover her mouth.

There, lying on the bed, was a large, black, shaggy-looking dog, its head resting on the lap of its dead owner. The owner had decided to take “the easy way out”. They’d decided to “opt out” like Dr. Jenner had called it, his brains, blood, and parts of his skull painting the wall above the headboard in a gruesome design.

The dog lifted its head to look at her when she took a step into the room but didn’t move from its spot. Its dark brown eyes, almost completely covered by its long, bushy eyebrows, held a blank stare as they gazed at her. She knew that expression. The poor dog was emotionally numb, like she’d been so many times in her 25 years of life.

She moved over to the nightstand, finding that there was a note laying on it. Her eyes skimmed over the page, finding a messily scrawled message:

_To Whoever Finds This:_

_I just can’t stand to live in a world that’s so cruel and heartless. I don’t want to live in a world where there’s no more humanity. The cancer took my wife and the zombies took my daughter. All I have left here is Beau and he’ll understand. He’s a good pup. He’s just a year old and he’s still got a lot of life left in him. He’ll make a faithful and loving companion. Please, take care of him like he deserves to be taken care of._

_Larry_

Kali choked on another sob as she looked over at the dog. Beau. His name was Beau, just like the puppy Julian had gotten her two years after they’d started dating. Was this a second chance? A chance to do it over? The Beau she’d loved had gotten hit by a car and it had _devastated_ her.

Yet there lied this dog. Even after its owner’s death, it had still refused to leave his side. He was faithful alright, just like Larry had written in his suicide note.

She wondered how long ago Larry had died. Judging by the looks of the blood on the wall, it hadn’t been that long ago, maybe two or three days.

She looked at the dog and it looked at her. And that was when she knew what she had to do.

“Beau… he’s dead, sweetie. He’s not comin’ back,” she said, slowly approaching the dog, “But that doesn’t mean that you hafta die too. I know you don’t understand the words I’m sayin’, but, if you come with me, I can take good care of you, just like he wanted. I can make sure you have food and that you’re safe and warm and dry. I can take you back to a place where there are _lots_ of people for you to play with. You’ll get _plenty_ of attention and affection.”

The dog just blinked and her heart broke for him. She knew that blank stare, that emotionless state. She knew what it was like to feel hollow.

“How about food? I bet you haven’t eaten in a while,” she suggested, “Let me see if I have anything to give you.”

She was quick to sling her pack off her shoulder and set it on the foot of the bed, rummaging through it until she found a couple pieces of beef jerky that Daryl had given her that morning, all that was left of the pack of jerky they’d found. She didn’t care if she ate later. This poor animal needed it _much_ worse than she did.

She took a piece out of the package and held it out to the dog, offering it the strip of jerky. Its head tipped back and it sniffed at the air before leaning a little closer to sniff at the jerky.

“It’s okay,” she crooned softly, “You can eat it, Beau.”

She held her hand out even closer to the dog and it leaned forward to gently ease the strip of jerky out of her fingers, being careful of its teeth. It bolted the strip of jerky down and she knew then that the dog had to be hungry. So she took the other strip of jerky out of the package and held it out in a silent offering.

Just as he was finishing the second strip of jerky, she heard familiar footsteps coming down the hall, towards the room she was in.

“Ya find anythin’ –,” he started to ask before cutting himself off and cursing, “Shit…”

Kalina turned her head to look at him with tears filling her emerald eyes.

Her gaze met his crystal blue one and she opened her mouth to say, “Daryl –,”

But he was quick to cut her off, shaking his head hard and stating, “No.”

“But, Daryl –,” she started.

“_No_,” he interrupted her again, his tone firmer this time, “We can’t go takin’ strays in.”

“But, Daryl, _look_ at him!” she cried at the injustice, gesturing to the dog’s state of starvation.

“I see him just fine,” Daryl pointed out, “We can’t go takin’ a damn dog in. How the fuck ya think we’re gonna take care of it? Hell we can barely find food for the group as it is!”

Tears spilled down her cheeks as she shook her head. Of course he wouldn’t understand what this meant to her, what the significance of this moment was. He didn’t know what she’d lost, what finding this dog represented.

“You might not care if he dies but I do. I can’t just let him stay here and wither away. I can’t stand to walk out of this house and know that an innocent dog died because I didn’t do anything to help him. You don’t hafta do a _damn_ thing, Dixon. I’ll take care of him myself,” she informed him, her voice cracking every so often.

“Kalina –,” he tried to argue.

“Daryl, _please!_” she begged, looking up at him with what she knew was the same heartbroken expression she’d had when she’d first spotted the dog on the bed, “If I don’t take him in, _no_ one will. Can’t you see that he’s been layin’ here for days? He hasn’t left his owner’s side even after the man blew his brains out. I can’t… I just can’t walk away and know that he’s suffering…”

She’d already lost her Beau. She hadn’t known he’d escaped from the fenced in backyard and gotten out onto the road… And when she’d gotten the call, she drove out to the spot where one of her neighbors had told her they thought the dog was running along the road… She’d found him... But he wasn’t running anymore… He’d never be able to run again… She’d been at home when he’d gotten hit and was suffering… She’d sat there on that old country road with the dog’s head on her lap while she waited for the vet to get there, begging and pleading with her furry companion to just hold on, to just hang in there until the vet managed to make it… But, by the time the vet had come out to check him out, there was nothing he could do for poor Beau…

She looked down at her lap and sniffled as she reached up to wipe at her eyes with one hand. And now, now that she had a chance to save _this_ Beau… Now Daryl was telling her no.

She heard Daryl give a loud sigh and knew that he’d walk out of the house before he’d let her keep the dog. She buried her head in her hands, resting her elbows on her thighs, and started to cry. There was just no winning with Daryl when he’d made his mind up about something.

Then the most surprising thing happened. The dog got up from its spot beside its dead owner and slowly approached her. She felt its cold, wet nose against her arm just before it nudged at her lightly. It never made a sound, just nudged at her arm with its nose. She turned to the side just slightly and reached out, cradling the dog’s face in her hands as she leaned in to rest her own forehead against the dog’s.

“I’m sorry…” she murmured quietly, just barely above a whisper, her heart breaking into a million pieces even as her voice cracked and broke, “I tried…”

** _–=Daryl=–_ **

** **

Daryl swallowed hard as he watched Kalina cry, resting her forehead against the dog’s. The mutt had gotten up from its spot beside its dead owner, something Daryl hadn’t expected it to do. It had sensed Kali’s distress and had gone over to sit beside her and nudge at her with its big nose. It let her cradle its big face as she cried.

But it wasn’t necessarily the dog’s interaction with Kali that got to him. Daryl had _never_ seen her break down in the whole four months he’d known her. Sure, he’d seen her a bit rattled after a nightmare a few times. He’d seen her down in the dumps a couple times. He’d seen her tear up and turn away from him while he put an animal out of its misery when they went out hunting. But he’d never seen her like _this._

He walked over to the foot of the bed and picked up the note the owner had left before blowing his damn brains all over the wall, reading it over. When he finished it, he glanced over at Kali and the dog again. The dog was sitting beside Kali, completely silent, nudging at her with its nose. It _clearly_ didn’t like her being upset.

He’d had a dog once as a kid, some terrier mix mutt, just a stray his mom had let him keep. It had always snuggled up to him after his old man had torn into him, offering him what comfort and sympathy it could. It had snarled and snapped at his old man any time he’d tried to lay into him. Daryl had loved that little dog. Then his dad had taken it out somewhere one night and dumped it, snarling that they “didn’t have the money to keep feedin’ no damn dog”. Daryl wasn’t stupid. He knew that his old man had gotten rid of the dog because it had stood up for him, something only his mom had done, up until she’d died. Then the dog had had to go too, leaving Daryl with no source of comfort.

Had Kali had a dog as a little girl? Had she had a dog to snuggle up with when it stormed? Had she had a dog to lick at her fingers when she was sad? Had she had a dog to make her laugh and smile when she wanted to cry? _Every_ kid deserved to have a dog. And, while Kali seemed like she was a very mature woman, she was definitely a kid at heart at times too.

Daryl took one last look at Kali and the dog, finding that the dog was now licking at her cheek and she was giggling. He’d made his decision.

“All right,” he sighed, “You can keep him. But _you’re_ gonna be the one ta fuckin’ take care of him.”

Kali’s head snapped up and jerked around to look at him, her bright green eyes so wide and her mouth hanging open.

“Are you serious?” she whispered, clearly not believing him for even a second, “I can keep him?”

He nodded his head and replied, “’S what I said.”

She narrowed those eyes at him and snarled, “Don’t you play games with me, Dixon.”

“I’m not playin’ games,” he retorted, “Now get your pack and get the dog and let’s fuckin’ go. We’ve got more houses ta check.”

The most brilliant smile he’d ever seen stretched across her face. Hell her whole damn face lit up, her eyes shining and the tiny dimples beside her mouth showing.

She was quick to climb off the bed and rush over to him, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tight.

“Oh _thank_ you!” Kali cried, “I can’t tell you how much this means to me, Daryl.”

He grunted in surprise, not having expected such a huge gesture of gratitude. She wasn’t the kind that touched people to comfort them and she wasn’t the kind that liked to _be_ touched either. What he _really_ hated was the way her soft, full breasts pressed up against him as she hugged him. Merle had guessed they were probably a 28C and they felt well-rounded. He’d heard Merle and Shane comment about them at least 100 times since he’d brought her back to the group four months ago.

But he didn’t want to think about her like that. Daryl wasn’t like the other guys. Sure, he was a guy, but he didn’t look at women as just… playthings. She was his teammate. And he couldn’t go thinking about fucking her.

He felt something fluttering in his stomach and knew that he had to get the fuck away from her. And fast! He swallowed hard and reached out to gently push her away.

“Don’t fuckin’ mention it,” he told her as she stepped back and put a little bit more distance between the two of them, “Like _ever_.”

She giggled at that and turned around to grab her pack.

“Come on, Beau. Let’s go, baby. Let’s _blow_ this popsicle stand,” she said to the dog, patting her thigh for him to follow her as she looked back at him.

The dog took one last look at Larry’s lifeless form and hopped off the bed, trotting over to Kali and nudging at the back of her thigh with his nose.

At that point, even Daryl felt bad for the poor mutt. It was huge, probably around 2 1/2 feet tall at the shoulders, and it was covered in shaggy, black fur. But even all that fur couldn’t hide the fact that it was bordering on emaciated. He didn’t know how long the dog would live or if it would even stick around after they left the house, but he knew that he’d made the right decision when he saw the huge grin stretch across Kali’s face. He’d never seen her smile like he’d seen her smile today, in the past five minutes alone.

** _xoxoxoxoxo_ **

Later that night, Daryl was sitting in front of the fire he’d made, his back resting against the log behind him. He stole a glance over at Kalina to find her chattering away to the big, black mutt. She scratched behind his ears as he sat between her legs in front of the log she was sitting on, his back facing her.

“Well… I think it’s time that we fix some dinner, don’t you, Beau?” she asked.

Daryl couldn’t help but chuckle at that. Hell she was usually quiet when she was around the group members, and she was usually pretty quiet when she went on supply runs with Daryl too. But she just chattered away to that damn dog. She talked to it just like it was a human and it understood her. It was actually kind of comical.

But the dog must’ve taken a liking to her because it had followed her into every damn house they’d searched that day, ears perked up and that stump of a tail wagging. He _refused_ to be left in the truck, pitching a regular bitch fit if Daryl tried to get Kali to leave him out in the truck.

The dog tipped its head back to look up at her and gave her a big doggy grin, making Daryl chuckle some more.

“How about we give Daryl what we managed to find this afternoon, huh? You think he’d like that?” she questioned, looking down at the dog.

Beau just panted and she grinned.

“All right. We’ll give him the ravioli then,” she stated, reaching for her pack and opening it up.

Daryl gave a little sigh and shook his head, tossing a stick he’d found on the ground beside him into the fire.

She’d managed to sneak some food into her pack for him yet _again_. And she’d just so _happened_ to remember that he really liked ravioli. Hell he’d practically grown up on that stuff. Between that, spaghetti O’s, and ham sandwiches. When a kid had to look out for themselves, they were quick to learn what shit was easy to fix so that they wouldn’t have to go hungry.

“Shut up, Dixon,” she told him, her voice holding a teasing tone, “Beau and I aren’t gonna share our hash so you’re just gonna hafta deal with ravioli. Besides, Beau can’t eat ravioli.”

He couldn’t fight the little smile that curled at his lips. She’d managed to not only find _his_ favorite canned food but hers too. She tossed the can of ravioli over to him and he caught it easily, slipping his knife from the sheath at his belt to open the can.

“Fork,” she offered, holding it out towards him.

He chuckled. She always managed to think of everything. Apparently she’d thought enough to pack some silverware too.

She was quick to open her own can and she pitched the lid off into the woods somewhere, a habit that he’d taken to as well after he’d seen her do it a couple times. He gave his a fling over his shoulder and dug his fork into the can, stabbing a piece of ravioli and bringing it up to his mouth. He didn’t even bother trying to cut it. He just crammed the whole piece into his mouth. It didn’t matter that it was cold either. It was ravioli and the food had been processed before it’d been put into the damn can anyway.

He heard Kalina giggling and looked over to find her watching him, a grin stretching across her face even as she laughed.

“The fuck’s so funny?” he asked her, his brows wrinkling as he looked over at her after he’d finished chewing and swallowing.

“You,” she replied, “I never realized you had such a big-assed mouth, Dixon.”

He gave a single snort of laughter, rolling those crystal blue eyes at her, and she giggled some more.

Daryl stabbed another piece of ravioli and dunked it into the sauce before lifting it up to his mouth, watching as Kali pulled a plastic bowl out of her pack and set it on the ground. She leaned over and started to scoop some hash out of the can and into the bowl for the dog to eat, using her fork and making sure that she didn’t leave part of his portion in the can. She wound up giving him about half of the can and Daryl opened his mouth to say something but stopped, seeing the bright smile that curled her lips as she watched the big mutt chow down. Hell he practically _inhaled_ the food!

She scratched at his back and praised, “That’s a _good_ boy, Beau. I bet you like that, dontcha?”

It didn’t take the dog long to finish his food. Hell he was finished before Daryl was! When the dog had finished his food, he licked the bowl clean and Kali poured some water into the bowl for him. Then she returned her attention to her hash.

Kali had always been a slow eater. She always teased Daryl about how quickly he ate unless he was lost in thought. She said she didn’t know how he could even taste his food because he made it “pull the disappearing act” so quickly that he had to have inhaled it. She joked that “men were human garbage disposals” and that “as long as there was a man or a dog around, she’d never have to worry about her leftovers”. It made Daryl laugh. But it was true. She usually passed her leftovers on to him. Of course, it sure as hell didn’t help when she’d take him her leftovers after the rest of the group had left and insist that he eat them. Every time he tried to ask her why she was giving them to him, she’d just answer “Well, you’re my favorite”, which he _hated_. She never left until he took them either.

He’d noticed that she had the funny little habit of eating one food at a time if they ever had more than one food in the same meal. She ate her meat first, then her vegetables, then her fruit, and finally dessert, if they had any. Granted, food was a luxury now. So it wasn’t often that they had more than one kind of food, _especially_ when they went out on supply runs. They always tried to save as much of the food they found as they could, knowing that the group was always in need of food.

Last night, her rice had been a real treat. Granted, Daryl hadn’t really been a big fan of peas until she’d come along and insisted that they were good for him and that she could manage to make them taste good. She never forced him to eat what she fixed but he ate it anyway. Food was food. Her cooking was a hell of a lot better than any of the other women’s in the group. And she didn’t try to get him to eat foods she knew he didn’t like either. That being said, he _hated_ pickles and mayonnaise. And peanut butter. But she didn’t like mayo either and she only ate sweet pickles. She _loved_ peanut butter though. Hell she’d eat that shit straight out of the damn jar with a fucking spoon! But he knew that she’d never fix anything for him that she wouldn’t at least try to eat herself.

He glanced up at her as he polished his can of ravioli off, finding her taking small bites of her hash. Beau had lapped up all the water and licked the bowl clean again and was now lying at her feet, all curled up. Kali finished her food and tossed her empty can over her shoulder.

Daryl did the same and Kali packed the bowl back into her pack, informing the dog, “We’ll wash it at the next house, sweetie.”

“We’d be better off sleepin’ in the truck tonight,” Daryl stated as he got to his feet, kicking dirt onto the fire to douse it.

Kali nodded, getting to her feet and prompting, “Come on, Beau. Let’s go potty. Then we’ll go sleep in the back seat and let Daryl take the front seat since I know he won’t want the back seat. And there’s no point in arguin’ with him and tellin’ him that I _know_ the back seat is comfier. So we’ll just take the back seat and let the stubborn ass have the cramped front seat, won’t we?”

The dog perked right up, getting to his feet and trotting along behind her, gazing up at her as he wagged that stump of a tail. Daryl waited for them to go about their business behind a large bush before he took his turn. Then he followed them over to the truck and climbed into the driver’s seat, reaching back to set his crossbow beside his pack on the floorboard behind his seat.

Kali pulled the back door of the truck open and set her bag on the floorboard on the opposite side from the one Daryl had left his bag and crossbow on. She kicked off her shoes and lied on her side on the back seat, her little 5’3” frame not taking up much room. The dog hopped right up and lied down beside her on his side. Daryl made sure all the doors were locked and the windows were rolled up before he rested back against the driver’s side door, stretching his long legs out over the console and the passenger seat.

He stole a peek back at Kali and found her face buried into the dog’s back, her arm draped over his shaggy-haired side. The dog looked over at Daryl and gave a sigh of contentment, making Daryl crack a smile. He knew _exactly_ what the dog was thinking. “This is the life.” And, for that dog, it was. Now he had food, constant company, and a safe, warm place to sleep. That was all the dog cared about. He didn’t care that he’d been fed cold corn beef hash out of the can. He didn’t care that it had been a small meal. He didn’t care that he was sleeping in a truck. Home was where the heart was for that dog. And it made Daryl realize that, despite the damn zombie apocalypse, life wasn’t all that bad. It was a _hell_ of a lot better than the fucked up childhood he’d suffered through and the hard times he’d faced trying to make ends meet once he’d started moving around with Merle after high school, doing whatever odd jobs they could find to rake in a little bit of cash. The damn dog was right. This _was_ the life, walkers or not. As long as he had the bare necessities to survive, he’d get by.

He fell asleep with a small smile tugging at his lips.

** Lyrics from the Songs: **

_This Is the Life_ by Amy Macdonald

_No Reflection _by Marilyn Manson

_Arma-goddamn-motherfucking-geddon_ by Marilyn Manson

**(_Don’t skip!_) Well, as always, if you managed to make it this far – I know, I know, it was a long assed chapter – then I congratulate you and thank you from the bottom of my twisted little heart. If you’re even bothering to read this author’s note – which most people don’t and probably skipped right over the first one anyway – then I also commend you. I can’t thank you _enough_ for taking the time out of your busy schedule to read this. It means the world to me – it really does. I’d like to take this time to remind you that I would _really_ appreciate your feedback and that I eat your messages and reviews up like candy. I don’t care whether you hated the story or you loved it. Just _please_ let me know what your thoughts were. As a writer, there’s nothing more helpful and insightful than a reader telling me their thoughts about my chapters and one-shots. Honestly, I don’t mind criticism, as long as it’s constructive – let me know what parts you didn’t like and how I can improve them. Let me know what could be expanded upon, what could be cut, what could be tweaked. I’ll never be able to improve upon my writing if I don’t know what I’m doing right and what I’m doing wrong. The most effective reviews are ones that let me know what my strengths _and_ weaknesses are – tell me what you liked, let me know what you didn’t like. You can _always_ message me or review me with any comments, concerns, or questions you might have. Thanks again, for your time and I _really_ appreciate you taking said time to read this.**

** _-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-_ **

**Just a final note: I’d like to take this time to personally thank everyone that’s helped me along so far.**

**To Shadows7X: I love you to death, dear , and I can’t thank you _enough_ for always supporting and encouraging me. Without you pushing me, I wouldn’t be to this point in my writing. And no one would be reading _any_ of the stories I post on here because I never would’ve known about the irresistible Norman Reedus if you hadn’t have provided me with the episodes from the show, which then sparked my interest in checking out as many of his other movies as I could – which haven’t been many since his movies are _really_ hard to get a hold of. You’re better than even the _best_ friend I could’ve ever imagined, better than any friend I could’ve ever asked for. You’re closer to me than my own family, dear, and I love you dearly. You were the one that read all my stories before I ever started posting. You’re the only one that has access to _all_ of my stories, both Fanfiction and original. You give me the most in-depth and informative reviews I’ve ever read. But, more than anything, you’ve pushed me when I wanted to give up. You’ve been there for me when I needed someone to turn to. And you always reminded me of how proud of me you were, how you thought I could do _anything_ I put my mind to. I’ll _never_ be able to thank you enough for that.**

**To Mizu. no. Oujo. 1967 (I had to put spaces in because Fanfiction is a little bitch and deletes it, thinking it’s the link to a website): I can’t thank you enough for taking the time out of your hectic, stressful schedule to send me extensive messages and keep in contact with me on a personal basis – outside of just my writing. It really means a lot to hear from you and I’d consider you a great friend. I’d also like to thank you for adding me on Facebook and helping me out with my brainstorming process.**

**To taliamarie77: I’d like to thank you for looking me up and adding me on Facebook. Not only are your posts an endless source of amusement but you’ve also helped me tremendously with my brainstorming process. And, of course, you’ve been a source of support and encouragement. So I can’t thank you enough for all the help you’ve given me.**

**To Borch: I look forward to each and every one of our message and I’m awful glad to have you as a friend. I can’t thank you enough for taking the time out of your busy schedule to message me and keep in touch with me. And for being so patient when it takes me a while to respond.**

**If I missed anyone, please don’t hesitate to let me know.**

** _-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-_ **

** _Now_ ** **… Let me know what you thought! All reviews and messages are _highly_ appreciated and I _do_ respond to all of them. If you’re kind enough to take the time out of your busy schedule to read and review for me, then I’ll take the time to thank you for it and let you know my thoughts on what you said. I actually enjoy hearing from my readers and I’ve become friends with a few of them. So you can always message me with your comments, questions, concerns, or suggestions.**


	2. If You Only Knew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter certainly has a lot going on in it. There’s a death, a very awkward but amusing conversation – I think you’ll know what I’m talking about when you get to it, a drunken round of 20 questions, and some smut.

** Author’s Note: ** ** Sometimes it takes me longer to come up with the ideas for new chapters than it does other times – it all depends on how willing my brain is to cooperate. The revising process _certainly_ takes up quite a bit of time too – especially when I do it by myself because I always try to read it over several times myself. I’m sure I probably still missed a few errors – if you find any, please let me know. Also, all comments, concerns, questions, or suggestions are welcome.**

**I find the songs in this chapter to be _very_ appealing – some of my favorites to be honest – and they’re milder than most of the stuff I use in other chapters of my stories, for those of you that are opposed to music by artists such as Marilyn Manson or Rob Zombie. So, I would _highly_ recommend checking these songs out on Youtube. I put these lyrics into the chapters for a reason guys – because they go along with the theme or events from the chapters (so if you pay close attention, there _might_ be some spoilers in there).**

**Now, without further ado, I give you Darli – or whatever you wanna call them. It’s the best ship name I could think of for them.**

** Chapter 2: If You Only Knew **

_Tell me all your secrets _  
And I'll tell you some of mine.   
Tell me only lies   
I know you're not that kind.   
Tell me all your bad days   
And I'll fill you up with mine.   
Drink them all away.   
  
No one ever has to know.   
  
Feed me all your favorites,   
And I'll feed you some of mine.   
What do you believe in love   
And all the signs?  
Feed me all your troubles,   
And I'll put them in a line   
Sing you all away   
Heeey.   
  
No one ever has to know.   
You don't ever have to go.   
  
Oooooh.   
  
Tell me all your secrets   
And I'll tell you all of mine.   
Tell me only lies   
You're not that kind.   
Tell me all your bad days   
And I'll fill us up with wine   
And toast them all away.

_Heeey_  
  
No one ever has to know.   
Cause in the darkness nothing shows.  
  
No one ever sees the pain.   
We had it all up on the stage.   
Yeeeah.

** _~*Kalina*~_ **

_Kalina smiled to herself as she looked down at the picture of the little family that was stuck there in the corner of the mirror on the dresser. It had clearly been a new family, the mother and father no older than their mid-20s. The mother was a pretty blonde and the father had light brown hair. The baby in the picture couldn’t have been any older than a year old and it was grinning, displaying a few teeth for the camera as the mother held it on her lap and the father had his arms wrapped around the mother’s waist. Both parents had a big smile on their faces. They were the perfect portrayal of happiness, their radiant faces captured on film forever._

_Kali reached out to gently press her fingertips to the picture. It was just what she’d always wanted, a family. But the realization that that was no longer a possibility was like a knife to the heart, digging in deep and causing an undeniable ache in her chest. She shook her head at herself and turned around to let her eyes roam over the master bedroom._

_With a sigh, she began scouring the place for anything that she thought the group would need. She found a baby blanket, something she could take back to Lori. She was sure the mother-to-be would appreciate it. It was soft and cream in color, a cute little sock monkey face on the front of it. She frowned as the thought that she would’ve loved to have that blanket for a child of her own crossed her mind. She REALLY had to stop thinking like that._

_She shook her head at herself, tucking the blanket into her pack, and started searching again._

_She found a bottle of Aspirin in the nightstand, something she was sure the group would put to good use. She found a small notebook with pink and purple spirals on the cover, something she thought Beth would like since she was always writing in a diary. To be honest, Kali missed writing herself, more than anything. Well… ALMOST anything. But she wouldn’t think about that._

_She tucked the small notebook into her pack and kept looking._

_She found a brush to give to Maggie, a few pairs of flower-printed briefs she thought Carol might like, a cute teddy bear for Sophia. She found a few shirts she thought might fit Rick, a leather jacket Daryl would like, a pair of sunglasses for Dale._

_Finally, when her pack was full, she stood and started out of the room. She’d just made it to the doorway when she heard the front door creak open downstairs._

_Thinking that it was just Daryl, she called out, “I’ll be down in a minute!”_

_But then she heard it, the slow shuffling of heavy feet, feet that didn’t belong to Daryl. She heard the snarls and groans of the undead as she rushed for the stairs. Three of them spotted her and started up the stairs, their jaws working as they slowly ascended the stairs._

_She pulled her knife out of the sheath on her belt and shouted, “DARYL! WALKERS!”_

_She stabbed the first walker as she hurried down the stairs, sinking the sharp blade of her knife into its thick skull. She yanked the blade out and shoved at the walker, sending it rolling down the stairs, knocking a couple others down with it. She went to stab the closest walker but slipped and started tumbling down the stairs, sliding on her ass and her back as she cried out in surprise and horror. She scrambled to dig her feet into the steps, desperately trying to stop herself before she got down to the rest of the walkers that waited at the foot of the stairs._

_She managed to stop just in time, pushing herself to her feet and shoving at the closest walker, pushing at its chest to back it up just far enough that she could sink her knife into its forehead. She twisted the blade so that it would bleed out quicker, ensuring its death, and pulled the blade back out. She ran past the other walkers, her eyes frantically searching the house even as the walkers started shuffling after her._

_“Daryl!” she cried, “DARYL!”_

_“In here!” she heard him shout._

_She followed his voice into the living room and found him wielding his crossbow, firing arrows as quickly as he could, even as the horde approached him._

_She tugged her gun out of the back of her waistband and flipped the safety off. She pointed and aimed._

_POP. One walker down._

_POP. Another one down._

_POP. And another one._

_She was just starting to see the horde begin to thin out, relief sinking into her system, when a group of walkers came out of the kitchen, heading straight for Daryl from behind him while he was occupied with the walkers ahead of him._

_“DARYL!” she yelled, “BEHIND you!”_

_He whipped his head around but it was too late. She started running, shoving at this walker or that one, pushing them out of her way. She felt them grabbing at her but she didn’t give a shit if she got bit. She couldn’t let Daryl get hurt._

_She couldn’t lose him, not Daryl._

_He fired an arrow at the first of the walkers that had come out from the kitchen but realized he was now out of arrows. Before he could grab his knife, they were on him._

_“NOOOOO!!!” Kali shrieked._

_She saw them tackle him to the floor, falling on him like ravenous wolves, tearing at his skin and ripping his flesh from his body with their teeth. He screamed in pain and tried slashing at them with his knife. But it was useless. There were too many of them._

_She fell to the floor, hitting her knees, and sobbed as she felt the cold hands grabbing at her. She watched helplessly as they fed on him. Then she felt the sharp pain of one of the undead sinking their teeth into the soft, tender flesh of her neck, tugging and ripping it away. She began to choke and gurgle as blood filled her lungs, her body slumping over onto the carpet. Her eyes found Daryl one last time, finding those crystal blue orbs focused on her as they began to flutter. Then everything went black._

************

Kalina gasped, her body jerking as her eyes snapped wide open. Her eyes roamed around her surroundings, searching frantically. She was in the back seat of a truck.

She pushed herself up into a seated position and craned her neck out to the side, checking the front seat.

Daryl. Where was Daryl?

Her eyes landed on him, finding him resting back against the driver’s side door of the truck, his legs sprawled out across the console and onto the passenger seat.

She relaxed, breathing a sigh of relief. But she just wanted to make sure.

She reached out, gently shaking his leg, and murmured a quiet, “Daryl?”

His eyes snapped open and that crystal blue gaze met her bright green one. A small smile tugged at her lips. He was alive.

“Whazza matter?” he asked her, his voice slurring slightly from his grogginess.

“Nothing,” she whispered, “Sorry. I just… Had a bad dream is all. You can go back to sleep.”

He mumbled something about “don’t know why the fuck ya had ta go and wake _me_ up” but readjusted himself in the seat and let his eyes drift shut again.

Kali couldn’t help but smile at that. He was alive. He was _safe_. And that was all that mattered. She’d already lost one man she loved. She couldn’t lose Daryl too. No, she might not love him, she might not have deep feelings for him. But she _did_ care about him, about his safety and his comfort, about his happiness and his health.

She couldn’t lose him. He was the closest thing she had to a friend.

With a sigh, she settled back down on the back seat and stared up at the ceiling of the truck. It was all just a nightmare, a _horrible, _horrible nightmare.

** _–=Daryl=–_ **

Daryl cracked his eyes open and was quick to blink several times as the blinding rays of sunlight poured into the truck. He slowly sat up and groaned, his legs sore and stiff. He tilted his head to first one side and then the other, cracking his neck before he rolled his shoulders in an attempt to work out the kinks. But he gave up after a couple minutes.

Maybe Kali was right. Maybe he _was_ a stubborn ass for not taking the back seat like she’d offered. But he knew she’d be comfier back there and he wasn’t a _complete_ asshole like his father or Merle, always choosing their _own_ comfort over everyone else’s. Besides, he was used to dealing with awkward sleeping arrangements and uncomfortable sleeping positions. Kali wasn’t.

At least he didn’t _think_ she was.

He shook his head. He didn’t want to think about her suffering as a kid. He’d been through hell himself and he didn’t like the idea of another kid or another person dealing with that kind of shit. Sure. He knew it happened. The world was a _hell_ of a lot harsher than some people realized, worse than they’d ever like to imagine. But he didn’t want to think about Kali suffering. That would only bring about more injustice. And he’d already known enough of that feeling in his life.

He vaguely remembered her waking him up last night, for no apparent reason. She’d shaken his leg and called out his name to rouse him from his sleep but had then told him that he could go back to sleep. It didn’t make any sense. She’d just said something about a “bad dream” and then left him be and laid back down.

Still… At times, he couldn’t help but wonder what had happened in her life to make her the way she was, so distant and hesitant around the others. She was just as fitful of a sleeper as he was and he wondered what could’ve been the cause of her nightmares. And sometimes she got this… this _haunted_ expression in those bright green eyes. But he’d never ask. She’d spared him the awkward conversations, the unwanted explanations, so he’d do the same for her.

He twisted around and stuffed his legs under the steering wheel so that he was sitting straight. He heard movement coming from the back seat and turned his head to glance back, finding the dog sitting up, watching him.

“All right,” he said quietly, “Let’s go piss.”

The dog’s ears perked up a bit and he cocked his big head to one side, making a tiny smile tug at the corner of Daryl’s mouth.

Daryl pushed the driver’s side door open and climbed out of the truck.

“Come on, ya big mutt,” he told the dog as he pulled the back door on the driver’s side of the truck open.

He reached in to grab his bag and his trusty crossbow and the dog stole one last look at Kali’s sleeping form before hopping out of the truck. Daryl closed the door as quietly as he could before setting off for the woods, just far enough away that he could piss behind cover but close enough that he could still see the truck in case something should happen.

Daryl was quick to go about his business and the dog was just as quick to do what he’d been let out of the truck to do. After they’d returned to the truck, Daryl rolled down the windows to air it out a bit and leaned against the side of the truck, waiting for Kali to wake up.

It didn’t take her long. She gave a gasp and sat bolt upright on the back seat. He noticed a panicky expression fill those emerald colored eyes as they searched the truck frantically.

“’S all right,” he was quick to reassure her, “Dog had ta piss so we went out for a little stroll.”

She sighed in relief and brought a shaky hand up to run her fingers through her short, shaggy, raven-colored locks.

It must’ve been another bad one, judging by the rattled expression on her face. Of course, it didn’t help that her usual medium complexion had paled a little either.

She swung her legs over the edge of the seat and pushed the door open. Daryl scooted to the side just enough to avoid getting hit by the door as he leaned against the side of the truck, his arms crossed over his chest.

He watched as she hopped out of the truck, reached into her pack to grab the roll of toilet paper she’d found yesterday, and headed for the woods.

“Don’t go too far!” he called after her.

“Just far enough that I can have some privacy!” he heard her call back, “Unlike you, I can’t piss with an audience, Dixon.”

He chuckled at that and watched as the dog trotted after her.

“Traitor,” he muttered under his breath, giving a single snort of laughter.

There was _no_ denying who the dog thought it belonged to. And it sure as shit wasn’t him.

A few moments later, Kali came back, roll of toilet paper in one hand and the dog trailing along after her, his ears perked up and his stump of a tail wagging as he gazed up at her.

She stuffed the roll of toilet paper back into her pack and grabbed out a tiny bottle of Germ-X. She squirted a drop into one palm and rubbed her hands together, rubbing the stinking stuff all over her hands and fingers, making sure that she even got the spaces in between her fingers.

She held it out to him and said, “Your turn.”

He rolled his eyes at her and kept both hands firmly tucked against his biceps.

She cocked one ebony-colored brow at him and prompted, “Wash ‘em, Dixon, or you’re not gettin’ any fuckin’ breakfast.”

His brows rose and he cocked his head at her in an “Oh _really?”_ expression.

She held the small bottle out to him again and he heaved a big sigh before finally reaching out to take it. He squeezed a small drop out into one palm and worked the shit all over his hands and fingers. The stuff _reeked._

She tossed the Germ-X back into her pack and pulled out a single pack of Pop-Tarts.

She ripped it open and offered him one, telling him, “Hope ya don’t mind strawberry.”

He wasn’t about to tell her, but it was his favorite flavor.

He was quick to accept the pastry and took a big bite, earning a giggle from the raven-haired woman leaning against the truck beside him. He stole a peek at her out of the corner of his crystal blue orbs and found her nibbling on hers, taking small bites and chewing thoroughly before swallowing.

As they finished their breakfast, she commented, “I uh… I’m gonna need to make a run into town, Daryl.”

His brows winkled at that. He would’ve figured she would’ve learned by now that he wouldn’t let her go out on her own when they were assigned to work together, _especially_ on a risky mission like going into town. _Fuck_ that! If she just _had_ to go into town, he’d go with her.

“The fuck we gotta go into town for?” he asked, turning sideways to face her and resting his shoulder against the side of the truck.

She nibbled at her bottom lip a little and his brows wrinkled even further. It wasn’t like her to clam up about shit.

“You know… _stuff,”_ she finally answered, her brows raising as if she was giving him some huge hint or something.

He cocked one brow at her and retorted, “Yeah. ‘Cause that’s _so_ specific, Kali.”

She sighed and replied, “All right! Pads. I need pads, Daryl. I should be starting my period soon. And I don’t exactly wanna ruin my damn underwear and my shorts.”

He scrunched his face up in disgust but nodded to her.

“That’s all ya had ta fuckin’ say,” he chided.

“Well… I thought maybe you would’ve gotten the hint when I answered ‘_stuff’_. But I guess not,” she pointed out, “Besides, _every_ woman goes through it. And if she _doesn’t_, then she’s got bigger problems than a damn bleeding vagina.”

His face scrunched up again, worse this time, and he growled, “Stop.”

She actually laughed at that and asked, “Daw… Did I finally get to the big, bad Dixon?”

“I don’t wanna think about the women in the group with a damn bleedin’ pussy,” was his response.

Truth be told, he _did_ know that every woman experienced the dreaded “crimson tide” as Merle and his old man used to call it.

She bit her bottom lip and he knew that it was to keep from laughing but the grin stretched across her face anyway, even with her bottom lip tucked between her teeth.

“Why can’t ya just use Lori’s damn… tampons?” he asked, giving a shudder at the last word, “It’s not like _she’s _gonna be usin’ ‘em for a while.”

He _really_ didn’t want to be talking about this subject. Sure, he knew it was something women went through regularly, that it was just something women had to deal with. But was it an appealing thought? Not exactly.

“Three words, Dixon,” Kalina informed him, “Toxic Shock Syndrome.”

His head cocked to one side, his brows wrinkling, and he questioned, “The fuck is that?”

She sighed before explaining, “You see, Daryl, a tampon gets inserted _into_ a woman’s vagina –,”

“I _know_ that!” he snapped, “I’m not stupid.”

“And it absorbs the blood from her period,” she went on like he’d never interrupted her, “And, if she leaves it in for too long, she could possibly contract Toxic Shock Syndrome, a nasty little bacterial infection that can be caused by long periods of exposure to over-filled tampons. Of course, there are other causes for the infection too but that’s what it’s usually associated with. You wanna know the symptoms? Vomiting, diarrhea, high fever, a disgusting discharge from the site of the infection –,”

“Okay, okay! I get it! No tampons,” he was quick to tell her.

“It can be fatal in some cases,” she finished, “Even leading to organ failure.”

_“Really?”_ he asked, “All that from a really bloody – _no_. Never mind. Don’t answer that. This conversation is _over_. No more talkin’ about bloody… _stuff_.”

She smirked at him and he shuddered before finally relenting, stating, “All right. We’ll make a trip into town.”

She gave him a smug little smirk and nodded her head, remaining silent.

“Better wipe that smug little smirk right off your face,” he told her, “Goin’ into town will probably mean_ swarms_ of walkers.”

She groaned, hanging her head, and he was the one to give a smug little smirk then.

She let Beau hop into the back seat of the truck before they both climbed into the truck, him sliding behind the driver’s seat and her sitting over in the passenger seat.

**xoxoxoxoxo**

The drive was a silent one. Daryl kept stealing little peeks over at Kali every once in a while, finding her with one arm hanging out the window, her short, dark hair blowing in the wind. He had his elbow resting against the open driver’s side window as he chewed on the side of his thumb, his other hand resting on the steering wheel to navigate the truck down the empty road.

He’d never tell her, but he wished to hell she’d fill the silence, talk, sing, hell _something._ _Anything_ would be better than the damn silence that filled the air between them.

He stole another glance over at her and found her resting her head back against the seat, her eyes closed and a slight smile on her face. He swallowed hard. She was pretty when she smiled.

He shook his head hard at himself.

He couldn’t go thinking like that. He wasn’t her type, would _never _be her type, and it wouldn’t do him any damn good to go and get himself involved in something that would only end in rejection, pain, abandonment. He’d known _all_ of those things. And he couldn’t suffer through them again. He _wouldn’t_. Hell he didn’t even know why he was thinking like that, thinking that there could ever be something between them. There couldn’t. And there never _would_ be. They were partners for supply runs. That was it.

Daryl was glad when he pulled up in front of the damn convenience store. Kali looked out the window on her side of the truck, even as he looked out his.

There wasn’t a walker in sight. Hell the town looked completely deserted, the buildings having been neglected and abandoned by their previous owners. Some of the windows in different stores were busted. The paint on the buildings was starting to fade from hours of relentless sunlight streaming down on them. There wasn’t another car in sight and trash was scattered along the sidewalks and the sides of the streets.

But Daryl had learned at an early age that looks could be deceiving.

“We’re stickin’ close on this one,” he told Kali.

She didn’t argue. She just nodded her head, and he reached back to grab his crossbow and his pack before rolling the windows of the truck up and looking back at the dog.

“You’re stayin’ here,” he informed the shaggy mutt.

Kali reached back to grab her pack from the floorboard behind her seat and set it onto her lap. She reached inside her pack and eased her .45 out, making sure to check the safety before tucking it into the back of the waistband of her jeans.

She reached out to scratch behind the dog’s ears and murmured a soft, quiet, “Shh… I’ll be back, baby. I _promise.”_

It was the first time Daryl had ever heard her use a little pet name – even if she was just talking to the dog. But he didn’t let himself dwell on it.

Daryl and Kalina both climbed out of the truck and headed for the store. Kali reached down to slip her knife out of its holder on her hip even as Daryl did the same. He reached out for the door and opened it. They heard the bell above the door ring and held their breath, looking at each other as they waited a few seconds.

He saw those emerald eyes blink and he nodded to her, starting into the building. She flanked him, staying right behind him. They kept their ears and eyes focused, ears listening for any sound, eyes scanning their surroundings for any signs of danger.

“Seems quiet,” she whispered to him.

“Don’t get too fuckin’ cocky,” he retorted in a hushed whisper.

She rolled those eyes at him and he rolled his right back.

“Find your shit and let’s get outta here,” he told her in a quiet tone that was just barely above a whisper.

“’Find your shit and let’s get outta here’,” she mocked him in a nasally tone, making him grit his teeth and narrow his crystal blue eyes at her.

She headed around to the aisle where they had the… ladies’ supplies… and he stood at the end of the aisle, his eyes swiveling over the layout of the convenience store, taking in the way the aisles were set up and what items were on which shelves. Surprisingly, this place didn’t seem to have been raided by too many folks yet. There was still plenty of shit on the shelves, which was uncommon, considering the circumstances.

He took a peek back at her and watched as her eyes roamed over the products on the shelf she was standing in front of. His gaze followed her hand as she reached out to grab a couple big packs of pads and his brows rose. Did she _honestly_ need _that _many?

She crammed one pack under each arm and then turned her head to look at him.

“Why don’t we try to see what we can cram into our bags while we’re here?” she suggested, her voice low.

He shrugged. He supposed it was all right. They hadn’t run into any walkers yet.

They scoured the shelves and started cramming anything useful into their packs.

He grabbed anything he thought might still be good – bags of junk food, bottles of Gatorade or water, a couple bags of candy. He decided it would be better to take a bunch of munchies. They wouldn’t melt so they’d last longer.

He didn’t bother looking at the expiration date. If it was bad, he’d throw it out later. Right now, all that mattered was filling up his pack.

When Daryl turned around, he couldn’t see Kali. He heaved a sigh and stood up on his tiptoes to get a better look around. His eyes searched the different aisles for her even as he craned his neck around to get a good view of as much of the store as he could see from where he was standing. But he still didn’t find her.

_Damn_ her for getting out of his sight! He’d _told_ her to stay close this time. It wasn’t that she couldn’t handle herself but, if a horde of walkers made their way into the store…

“Kali, where the hell are –,” he started to growl before he heard something fall off one of the shelves a few rows over.

He sighed. She’d just gone a couple rows over to grab something real quick. There was no sense in him panicking.

But when a second item fell and then a third, his train of thought shifted.

Now Kali could be a bit clumsy at times but she wouldn’t drop _that_ many things in a row.

Then he heard it, the unearthly groan and the shuffling of heavy feet.

He eased his knife out of its sheath and started towards the sound. But the shuffling grew louder and he realized that it wasn’t just _one_ set of feet that was approaching from that direction.

Daryl crept to the end of the aisle and slowly poked his head around the end of the shelf, his eyes landing on a group of walkers that were shuffling into the store from the back entrance. There were probably about 10 of them. _Shit!_

He jerked his head back behind the aisle again and his eyes darted every which way, trying to figure out the best means of escape. But first, he had to find Kali. He couldn’t just _leave_ her there.

He heard a loud _CLANG_ just before glass shattered, the sounds coming from the back of the store. A few seconds later, he felt a hand cover his mouth.

He jerked his head around to find Kali crouched down beside him. He narrowed his blue eyes at her and she jerked her thumb in the direction he’d poked his head around the aisle. His brows wrinkled and she mouthed “Trust me.” He nodded and she released her hold on his mouth, bolting in that direction.

Daryl was quick to follow her, heading out after her. He heard a few _THUD_ noises and the sound of something sloshing, coaxing him to steal a glance back over his shoulder to find the geeks struggling to shuffle after them. There were shattered bottles all over the floor, a large, maroon-colored puddle of liquid seeping across the tiles of the floor. The walkers were tripping over each other, sliding into one another, falling on the floor. They were like idiots on ice, slipping and sliding on the wet tile. Hell he couldn’t help but give a single snort of laughter at that. He’d never seen anything like it! It was like watching America’s Funniest Videos: Zombie Edition.

He nearly ran Kali right over as she stopped briefly and he looked down at her, wondering what the hell the pause was for, to find her grabbing a handful of candy.

“Damn it, Kali!” he scolded in a hushed tone, “Move your ass! They know we’re here!”

He yanked on her empty hand and she scowled at him but let him drag her for the front door and out to the truck.

They were quick to climb into the truck and he locked the doors as the first of the walkers started shuffling out the front door of the convenience store. She set their bags and her fucking pads behind her seat before setting his crossbow behind his seat.

“Ya fuckin’ happy?” Daryl snarled at her as he put the truck in reverse and whipped it around before throwing it in drive and stomping on the gas pedal.

The engine roared as they sped off.

She glared over at him. He saw her out of the corner of his eye as he focused on the road.

“Snarl all ya want, Dixon. I saved your ass… _again._ If I hadn’t have knocked that damn shelf of hooch over, we would’ve been walker chow,” she pointed out, turning her head to glare out the window instead of at the side of his head.

He heaved a big sigh and she added a few moments later in a quiet murmur, “They were headed _right_ for ya, Daryl. I couldn’t just leave ya to fend for yourself. Sure. You’re a badass. We _all_ know that. You’re Daryl fucking Dixon. But you’re only human…”

He frowned at that. _She’d_ been the one to turn the shelf over? Rather than rush back to him for protection, she’d tried to distract the walkers and slow them down?

He knew that she wasn’t a coward, that she wasn’t helpless. He knew that she’d always had his back since he’d brought her back to the group. But he hadn’t realized that she was willing to risk her own life, risk getting caught by a whole horde of walkers, just to protect _his._

He gave a heavy sigh.

Try as hard as he might, he just couldn’t stay mad at her for saving his ass… _again._ And he hated that.

**xoxoxoxoxo**

The rest of the afternoon was spent searching old farmhouses on their way back towards Hershel’s farm. They’d be back at the farm tomorrow and they’d have to gather as much food and supplies as they could to make their trip worthwhile. Sure, they’d managed to stuff a few things into their packs back at the convenience store before the horde of walkers had shuffled in, but there wasn’t much to show for their trip so far other than the truck and the dog. And those things wouldn’t do any good to fill the hungry bellies that were no doubt waiting for them back at the farm.

The silence dragged on between Daryl and Kali, clear through the afternoon and into the early evening. He knew that he was the cause of her silence, that he was the one she was mad at instead of the walkers, and the guilt ate him up inside. It was like a relentless hound on the trail of a rabbit. It was really starting to wear on his fucking nerves. And it just didn’t sit well with him.

After they’d cleared the last house, the sun sinking low behind the trees, he decided that it would be a good place to bed down for the night.

“We’ll stay here for the night,” he announced to her.

She just carried her pack into the kitchen and pulled a couple things out of it, placing them on the counter, before she set her pack on the floor next to the counter. She turned the stove on and found a pan, going over to fill it with water at the sink and set it on the burner she’d turned on. She grabbed a smaller pan out of the same cabinet she’d found the larger one in and set it on another burner, turning that one on too.

She worked in silence as she fixed them dinner. Not once did she attempt to strike up a conversation with him or even spare him a single glance. But he watched her anyway, leaning against the counter on the opposite side of the kitchen, his brows knitting together as he gnawed at the inside of his cheek.

He didn’t know how much longer he’d be able to endure the silent treatment, but he didn’t really want to be the one to break the silence either.

In less than half an hour, Kali was dishing dinner up. By that point, Daryl had made his way over to take a seat at the table.

Kali walked over to set a plate of pasta in front of him, little shell noodles covered in tomato sauce. He tried to make eye contact with her, something he usually avoided, but she didn’t bother to reciprocate. She simply set a fork beside his plate and took her own plate over to the other side of the kitchen, hopping up on the counter and tucking into her food without so much as a single syllable.

The dog sat down on his haunches, staring up at her as she scooped a fork full of pasta off of her plate and guided it to her mouth.

“Ya don’t hafta eat clear over there,” Daryl grumbled.

“Shut up and eat your fuckin’ food, Dixon,” she snapped.

His head jerked back as if she’d just slapped him.

That was the first time she’d actually gotten snippy with him in the four months since he’d brought her back to the farm with him. It was the first time she’d ever unleashed that anger on him instead of the walkers they’d come across since he’d saved her ass in Atlanta and brought her back to the group. And he didn’t like it.

“Now, listen here, woman –,” he started.

She pointed her fork at him, narrowing those emerald eyes, and told him in a voice that was both eerily quiet and remarkably calm, “Right now, I don’t wanna talk to you. So just shut up and eat the food I fixed for you.”

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up at the tone she’d taken with him. It was like the tone his mother used to take with Merle when he’d gotten himself into some _serious_ trouble. But it wasn’t just her tone that caught him off guard. Even the words she’d used were unsettling.

She hadn’t said “for us” like she always said. She’d said “for you”.

He narrowed his eyes at her and opened his mouth to spout something off but she hopped down from the counter and started into the living room, putting some more space between them. Beau followed her, not even bothering to look back at Daryl.

Daryl heaved a sigh and looked down at his plate, swallowing hard.

He’d fucked up. He knew it. But he wasn’t quite ready to admit it just yet.

He finished his food and took the plate and fork over to the sink, rinsing them off and taking the fork over to slip it into his pack. She came into the kitchen then, setting her plate into the sink. She didn’t even bother to rinse it, which wasn’t like her. She’d always said “By damn, if someone came into _my_ house and used _my_ dishes, I’d want ‘em to at _least_ rinse ‘em off. So I’m gonna do the same.” Instead, she rinsed her fork off and carried it over to drop it into her pack.

She went over to one of the cabinets and tugged something out. Daryl’s eyes widened when he realized what it was: a bottle of white wine.

“Kali…” he cautioned.

“Fuck you, Dixon,” she was quick to dismiss him, “After all the shit we went through to try to find that group food, I think I deserve a little hooch. And I found it myself. So fuck off.”

She opened up a tin of dog food she’d found earlier that afternoon and set it on the floor for Beau, letting him chow down. Then she filled a bowl with water and set it next to the big tin of dog food, leaving the dog to feast.

She took the bottle of wine and headed back into the living room.

Daryl sighed but grabbed both of their packs, following after her. It was clear that he owed her an apology before she’d adjust her attitude.

He couldn’t really say that he blamed her though. Hell she’d saved his ass _again_ today and he’d been ungrateful. Sure, neither one of them was really one to sit there and trip all over themselves to praise the other for a job well done. They didn’t have to. But he’d snapped at her after she’d saved his hide and that wasn’t exactly a good response to someone going out on a limb to save your ass.

He followed her up the stairs and into the only bedroom there in the house. She took a seat on the bed and he looked around the room. The dog was quick to claim the foot of the bed, sprawling out across it.

Other than the dresser and a single nightstand, the bed was the only piece of furniture there in the room. And there wasn’t a bay window like there had been in the last house they’d spent the night in. So he’d either have to share the bed with her or sit on the floor. Rather than make her feel pressured to talk to him or cramped for space, he chose to sit on the floor, his back resting against the side of the bed.

He heard her trying to twist the top off of the bottle but she couldn’t get it. She gave a frustrated growl and he reached back without even looking up at her. He waited, motionless, but she didn’t offer him the bottle.

“Hand the fuckin’ thing over and I’ll open it for ya,” he finally prompted when his actions didn’t coax a response out of her.

After a few moments, just when he was getting ready to pull his arm back, he felt her slide the bottle into his grasp. His fingers tightened around the neck of the bottle and he brought it down to twist the wrapper off the top. He eased his knife out of its sheath at his hip and stabbed it into the cork, twisting and tugging until the cork was loose.

He passed the bottle back to Kali and flung the cork against the opposite wall of the room.

She didn’t say a word, didn’t even offer up a “Thank you”, as he wracked his brain for something to say.

“’M sorry,” he finally murmured, knowing that those were the words she wanted to hear but having to force them out anyway.

And it was true. He _was_ sorry. He’d acted like an ass and it was uncalled for. But, sometimes, that “Dixon Pride” just got in the way. It had a habit of fucking everything up.

She remained completely silent though, choosing instead to tip the bottle back and take a long pull from it.

After a few moments, he finally pointed out, “You’re not makin’ this any easier, ya know?”

He stole a glance back at her and watched as she hung her head, those long, swoop bangs hiding her pretty eyes as she slowly nodded.

“I know…” she finally said, “I’m sorry.”

The corner of his lips twitched as he fought back a smile.

_There_ she was. The Kali he knew was back.

“I don’t know…” she admitted, “I just… I mean it’s not like I expect ‘Thank yous’ or anything like that… I just…”

It wasn’t like her to trip and stumble over her words. So he tried to help her out.

“It’s nice ta hear it sometimes?” he guessed.

She nodded again but didn’t meet his gaze.

“Yeah…” she confessed, “I don’t think you’re ungrateful, Daryl. I just…”

She just what?

“Ah _hell!”_ she finally cried, “I need some more booze.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at that.

He watched as she tipped the bottle back, taking a long pull from it. She let her eyes drift shut as she slowly swallowed the wine, savoring the taste.

She held the bottle out towards him and stated, “I’ll share if ya don’t drink the whole damn bottle.”

He gave a single snort of laughter at that.

“Can’t make any promises,” he retorted as he reached out to accept the bottle, drawing a healthy pull from it.

She giggled at that and he found that he loved the sound. It wasn’t often that he heard her laugh. There wasn’t much to laugh about during the damn apocalypse.

His eyes drifted shut and he tipped his head back to rest it against the side of the bed. She’d found the good stuff. Sweet, white wine. Moscato.

His mom would’ve loved it. She’d preferred cheap, red wine. Red Rooster Merlot was her favorite, but she’d taken sweet, white wine when she could get it. Personally, Daryl was more of a whiskey or moonshine kind of man. And he’d never really had a chance to find out what kind of alcohol Kali preferred yet.

He took another pull from the bottle and held it up to pass it back to Kali. She was quick to accept it, taking a big swig of it.

** _~*Kalina*~_ **

** **

** **

Kalina smiled to herself as she got an idea. It was a stupid idea, but it was an idea nonetheless and it would help them pass the time.

“Let’s play 20 questions,” she suggested.

Daryl looked over at her and gave a single snort of laughter at the idea.

“The fuck ya wanna do that for? That game’s stupid,” he replied.

She frowned at that and said, “It doesn’t hafta be. We could make it fun or interesting. I mean they don’t hafta be _serious_ questions, Daryl. We could ask silly ones or something.”

He shook his head at her and her frown deepened but she just nodded.

If he didn’t want to play, she wouldn’t push him.

She nudged him with the bottle of wine and he reached up to take it from her, taking a pull from it.

She didn’t really know what else to do to pass the time. She wasn’t tired so it wasn’t like she could just to go sleep.

She started looking around the room, searching for something else to do to occupy her attention.

After a few moments of silence though, Daryl finally relented, telling her, _“_Oh _all_ right. Ask your stupid fuckin’ questions.”

“If you were a flavor of ice cream, what kind would you be?” she inquired.

He laughed at that and glanced over at her, questioning, “Are you serious? _That’s_ the question you wanna ask?”

“I said they didn’t hafta be serious,” she reminded him, “I thought we could keep it fun, make it interesting.”

He shrugged and answered, “Hell I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it.”

Kali giggled at that and informed him, “I know _exactly_ what kind I’d be.”

“Yeah?” he asked her, “And what’s that?”

“Rocky road,” she said before explaining, “See, I just _love_ chocolate. And the ice cream itself is chocolate. I can be real sweet when I wanna be, so that’s where the marshmallows come in. And the friends I had when I was growin’ up said I could be a little ‘nutty’ at times, so there’s the almonds. Now it’s your turn. What kind would you be?”

He chuckled and nodded to her before nibbling at his bottom lip. He seemed to do that a lot when he thought. That or chew at the inside of his cheek. Sometimes he rubbed at his lips with his fingers or picked at the skin around his nails with his teeth. She’d picked up on some of his little quirks over the four months that they’d known each other.

Finally, he shrugged and replied, “Guess I’d be double fudge brownie.”

Daryl handed her the bottle and she reached out to take it.

She smiled at him and prompted, “Why’s that?”

The corner of his lips twitched and she knew that he was fighting back a smile.

“I used ta sit up on the counter while mom baked when I was just a kid. She’d let me steal samples of the batter and act like she didn’t see me. And she always let me lick the spatula and the bowl when she was done. She knew that brownies were my favorite so she used ta make ‘em on my birthday,” he explained, chuckling a little before he added, “Merle used ta get so pissed. He said she always liked me better.”

She grinned at that. For the first time, he’d shared a happy memory with her. He wasn’t really one to disclose _any_ memories with _anyone_ but he’d opened up to her and let her see a little piece of his life during his childhood.

“Well that’s a _great_ answer then,” she commented, “Now it’s _your_ turn to ask a question.”

He thought for a while before finally asking, “What’s your favorite color?”

“That’s easy,” she replied, “Blue. If you’d asked me a year ago, I probably would’ve said black because I wore it so often and it was the color of my old truck. Or I might’ve said blood red because it was the color of the comforter on my bed, the color I loved to paint my nails. But now it’s blue.”

“Why’s that?” he pressed.

She looked down at the comforter on the bed and gave a little laugh.

“It’s just a beautiful color, very calming and reassuring. It’s the color of the water when you see big bodies of water, the color of the sky on a sunny day. My apartment there in Atlanta even had light blue siding. It just reminds me that there are still some good things out there I guess,” she replied.

_And it’s the color of your eyes_, she thought. But she’d never tell _him_ that.

“What’s yours?” she inquired.

He shrugged and stated, “Don’t know if I really even have one. Guess, if I _had_ ta pick… I’d go with yellow. The sun helps guide me when I’m out huntin’ or out on whatever mission Rick sends us out on. It helps show me which way I’ve been and which way I’m goin’. Sunflowers were my mom’s favorite flowers. And the ol’ clunker I fixed up for my first car was yellow.”

Kali couldn’t help but smile at that.

“All right,” she commented, “Now let me think. It’s my turn to ask a question.”

He held up his hand and she passed him the bottle.

“What’d you wanna be when you were little? Like what kinda job did you want when you grew up?” she asked him.

He shrugged his shoulders and told her, “I wanted ta be a fireman or somethin’ like that. I wanted ta save people.”

She smiled at that and said, “That’s a _great_ thing to want. Your answer’s a hell of a lot better than mine then. I wanted to be an actress. When I was little, I saw how everyone seemed to love movie stars. The boys all thought the actresses were beautiful and the women all wanted to dress and look like them. I wanted people to love _me_ like that.”

He just nodded, chewing on the inside of his cheek.

“What was the stupidest thing ya ever did ta make your friends laugh?” he inquired.

She laughed at that and teased, “You got a couple days?”

Daryl chuckled at that and she finally answered, “I was always the craziest one in the group I ran with. I tended to run with the boys instead of the girls. Girls were too damn catty, too dramatic. There was this one time though… I decided to try to drink milk through my nose to make my friends laugh at the lunch table. I put the straw up my nose, took a deep whiff, and up went the chocolate milk. I didn’t figure it’d come shooting out the other side of my nose though. So I started coughing and sputtering and my nose burnt like _hell_ but all of the guys got a good laugh out of it at least. I guess I was always just ‘one of the guys’. But we sure had some fun times.”

He chuckled at that and shook his head at her. He took another pull from the bottle before offering it to her.

“I’ve never heard that one before,” he razzed, grinning over at her.

“Well what did _you_ do, Dixon?” she prompted.

He got this crooked little smirk on his face, one she thought was utterly adorable, and he chuckled.

“I was kind of a jerk I guess,” he started, “I liked ta pull pranks on the guys I hung out with. There was this one buddy I had, his name was Jimmy. I got him _good_ one night. There were a few of us havin’ a sleepover at Davy’s house. When Jimmy fell asleep first, we all decided ta pull a prank on him. Since they all thought I pulled the best pranks, they told me I could have the honors. So I sprayed some of that Reddi Whip shit in his hand and tickled his nose. You should’ve seen him smear that shit all over his damn face. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I decided ta dunk his hand in a bowl of warm water. Poor bastard pissed himself. And I mean _pissed_ himself. He smelled pretty ripe that night, _trust_ me.”

Kali got a real good laugh out of that and he laughed right along with her.

“Oh! I shouldn’t be laughing,” she told him, “But I just can’t help it.”

He nodded and replied, “I felt like such an ass but I sure as hell got him good.”

She nodded and agreed, “It sure sounds like it.”

“The boys never forgot that one,” Daryl added, “And they never tried ta pull pranks on me ‘cause they knew I’d get even with ‘em.”

She just smiled and gave a single snort of feminine laughter, commenting, “Oh I don’t doubt it.”

After a couple minutes, she pondered, “Hmm… Oh! What’s the grossest thing you’ve ever eaten?”

Daryl scrunched up his face and answered, “Caviar.”

Her whole face contorted in disgust and she cried, “Eww!”

He just nodded and explained, _“Yeah._ Merle and I decided ta stop by this party one time in a town we were in. It was one of those fancy ones, ya know? Real swanky. Some rich schmuck must’ve thrown it. We decided we’d be hot shots and try some of their food. Merle dared me ta eat caviar. I did. And I damn near puked.”

She stuck out her tongue and made a “Leck!” noise before shaking her head hard.

“Did you know that stuff is fish eggs?” she asked him.

He shook his head and replied, “Nah. But I do now.”

“What about you?” he pressed, “What’d you eat?”

“Liver and onions,” Kali told him, sticking out her tongue as she gave a full-bodied shudder of revulsion.

He chuckled at that.

“What’s the funniest drunken moment you’ve had?” Daryl questioned.

She groaned and said, “I’m usually a ‘real amusing’ drunk I’m told. I get giggly and stupid. Apparently I’m a real flirt too. I guess I decided to dance on the table one night and I put on quite a show… until I fell off the table and onto someone’s lap.”

He chuckled and shook his head at her.

“Never figured you for a flirty drunk,” he told her.

She just shrugged and asked, “What about _you, _Dixon?”

He gave a little grin and informed her, “I think it was probably the time I puked on Merle. He was raggin’ on me about somethin’ and I _knew_ it was comin’. I could just feel my stomach churnin’. And I was sick of listenin’ ta him bitch. So I just turned around and threw up all over him. Ya should’ve seen the look on his face!”

“Eww!” she exclaimed, her face wrinkling up in disgust as she shook her head hard, _“Gross!”_

He just laughed at that.

“What’s the most embarrassing moment you can remember?” he inquired.

“Hey!” she cried, “You skipped me, you little cheater!”

He just laughed and said, “Sorry.”

Kali shrugged but stated, “It’s all right. I’ll letcha have that one. That was a good question. Let’s see…”

She lifted one hand and began to tap on her chin as she thought.

Finally, she commented, “I think I was probably about 16 when I was walkin’ back to mom’s house. The guy I had a crush on was walkin’ with me and I saw a mud puddle. I decided that it would be fun to run through it and I grinned over at him and took off. I didn’t realize there was a damn hole in the road hiding under that mud puddle. So I twisted my ankle, flew at least three feet through the air, skidded through the gravel, and landed face first in another mud puddle. I hobbled all the way home.”

Daryl was cracking up, laughing at her story, and she pointed at him, retorting, “Yeah. You laugh. My underwear were so fucking soaked with mud that I washed them five fucking times and they _still_ didn’t come clean. My _underwear!_ And I’ll have you know that I had to pull rocks out of my knee with a pair of fucking tweezers. It was _not_ a fun day.”

That only made him laugh harder.

“Did he at least walk ya home after that?” Daryl asked her.

She nodded and answered, “Yeah. He came running to make sure I was all right. He wrapped an arm around my waist and helped me hobble home.”

He nodded and she prompted, _“Well_… What about you, Dixon? What’s _your_ embarrassing story? You’re not gettin’ out of it _that _easily.”

“Walkin’ in on Merle makin’ out with one of my teachers when I was in high school,” he told her.

Kali gasped and her eyes grew real wide.

_“Yeah,”_ he said, nodding, _“Not_ fun.”

“You win, my friend,” she said, her tone sympathetic, “You win.”

She held the bottle up as if toasting to him and then took a drink before offering it to him again.

** _–=Daryl=–_ **

When the bottle was empty, Daryl rolled it across the floor and it bumped into the wall on the opposite side of the bedroom, wobbling first one way and then the other before coming to a complete stop. Kali giggled a little and he stole a peek over at her, finding her grinning from ear to ear.

Yeah. She was lit.

She sprawled out on the bed, lying on her stomach with her head facing him while he rested the back of his head against the side of the bed.

“I’m not tired,” she announced.

“Me neither,” he replied.

“Daryl…?” she asked hesitantly.

“Hmm…?” he inquired, letting his head loll to the side so that he could meet her gaze as she rested her cheek on one of her arms.

“Can I ask you somethin’?” she questioned.

He just laughed and said, “Ya just did.”

She giggled and the corner of his mouth twitched as he fought back a smile. He cracked his eyes open again to find her shaking her head and smiling at him.

“No! I mean really,” she stated.

“I guess so,” he told her.

“What did you do?” she asked him.

His brows wrinkled in confusion and she quickly added, “I mean… Before all this. Before the world went to shit.”

He turned his head, looking anywhere but at her. He wished people would just give that a fucking rest. Hell they were _always_ asking him what he’d done before the apocalypse, trying to guess what it was that he’d done with his life before the damn walkers had taken over.

“It’s just…” she started before sighing and then continuing on to say, “The rest of the group has this bet goin’, ya see? And I didn’t put any money in. That shit’s rude if you ask me, bettin’ on people and stuff like that. Shane says he thinks you were unemployed but that’s a bunch of bullshit if ya ask me. You work _way_ too damn hard to have been unemployed before the fuckin’ zombie apocalypse. Glenn says he thinks you were a trail guide or somethin’ like that. But I just can’t see you takin’ a bunch of stuck up rich folks out into the woods and dealin’ with all their fussin’ and shit for hours at a time. And Andrea swears that you were a mechanic. You _are_ pretty good with cars and motorcycles I guess. So that one makes more sense than the others. It sure as hell beats Lori’s guess. She bet that you were a garbage man.”

She gave a feminine little snort of laughter after that one and shook her head at the idea.

He didn’t like that, didn’t like the idea of the others members of the group betting on him like he was some kind of fucking racehorse or something, like it was some sort of game. That was his _life_ they were wagering on. Guessing was one thing. But betting? That was a _whole_ new level of disrespect.

“And whadda _you_ think?” he questioned, his piercing, blue gaze trained on her.

And he found that he was actually interested in her response. He _wanted_ to know what she thought he’d done. He _wanted_ to know what she thought of him.

She was the closest thing he had to a friend in that group. She was the only one that had ever stood up for him, had ever taken the time to get to know him and understand him. She’d already said that she thought he was a hard worker and she’d shot down most of the ideas the other members of the group had offered up.

“I think they’re _all_ wrong,” she announced, “You’re a harder worker than anyone else in that damn group. That’s what I think. And not just when we’re out on our supply runs and stuff either. You help whenever you’re needed, whatever the reason. I think you were a construction worker.”

He couldn’t help but crack a little smile at that. She sure was an opinionated little thing. She was feisty too, and he liked that. It made her more interesting.

“Well they’re _all_ wrong,” he informed her, “_Especially_ Shane. I just moved around from place ta place with Merle after graduatin’ from high school. We worked whatever odd jobs we could ta scrape up a little cash. We did _all_ kinds of shit.”

She nodded, nibbling at her bottom lip, but she didn’t say a word. He found his smile quickly fading. Had her thoughts of him changed after that? Did she think that he was just a stupid redneck? That he was plain white trash? Hell that’s what everyone else in the group thought of him, even Merle.

“What’d _you_ do?” he inquired, wanting to shift the conversation away from himself.

She just laughed and answered, “I was a psychologist. And, if you wanna know the truth, the only reason I’d gotten hired on with just a Master’s Degree was because the place I worked for was desperate. I started working at the Department of Corrections there in Atlanta my junior year of college. It was for an internship. I wanted to get it out of the way before my senior year. I was essentially just shadowing their head psychologist there. I didn’t think they’d actually wind up hiring me on once I’d completed my internship, _especially _since I didn’t have a PH.D. But they did. They said I did so well there and that they didn’t want to have to train someone new. They started assigning me patients of my own. They wanted me to evaluate the inmates, see how likely I thought they’d be to reoffend if they were released. It was all fine and dandy at first. But then it started to lose its glamor after a while…”

His brows hiked up his forehead. She’d been a fucking _shrink?_ She had to be pretty smart for that, he’d bet. But it probably meant that she’d been some damn stuck up bitch before everything had gone to shit. She probably thought she knew everything. And it explained why she was able to read people so well. If she’d gotten her Master’s Degree, that meant she’d spent six years in college.

But if she’d been paid to “evaluate” the inmates in a correctional facility, she would’ve had to have some balls. Working with inmates wasn’t a job for the naïve or the skittish. They were cunning, deceiving, even ruthless in some cases. It wasn’t manual labor but it wasn’t just some damn office job either. If she’d grown used to working with inmates, it was no wonder why the hell she’d managed to make the shift from a shrink to a survivalist after the zombie apocalypse broke out. She was already used to dealing with people that probably wanted to hurt her or even kill her on a regular basis. While most of the inmates probably weren’t held for murder, some of them weren’t able to be released.

Still, he couldn’t help but wonder why her job had lost its “glamor”.

“Why’s that?” he asked.

He turned his head to rest the side of it against the old comforter, watching her as she picked at the comforter with one nail, the black paint she’d applied earlier that week already chipping and cracking in places.

“It wasn’t easy. Don’t get me wrong. But it got boring after a while. And I won’t lie. Some of those inmates gave me the fucking creeps. What _really _fascinated me though were the criminally insane. It wasn’t the crimes they’d committed that interested me. What I found enthralling was what was going on inside of the minds of these notorious criminals. Call me sick but I would’ve _loved _to pick the brains of men like Michael Myers or Thomas Brown Hewitt. I mean I know they’re fictional characters but surely they’re based on _some _truth. It’s just… _fascinating _as to what goes through their minds, how a human can become so desensitized to the point where they’re the most dangerous offenders.”

Daryl’s brows hiked up his forehead. It was hard enough to imagine Kali – a mere 5’3” with a petite little frame – working as a shrink at a correctional facility. But to discover that she actually found the most notorious villains of slasher films to be _‘fascinating’? _She wanted to pick their brains, to know what was going on inside of their heads? It was no fucking wonder why she’d come to find her job boring if she was more intrigued by the most dangerous psychopaths out there than the ones that had gotten busted for arson or armed robbery.

_“Seriously?” _he inquired.

“Seriously,” she replied, “And you know what else I loved? Writing.”

He cocked his head to one side and she started to explain, “I _really_ loved creative writing. I loved to write stories. But you don’t go to college to be an author. You’ve gotta be realistic. You’ve gotta have a game plan and get a full-time job to support yourself. We can’t all be Stephen King and have tons of books published. We can’t all sell hundreds of copies of those books. So I applied everywhere I could think of. But the Correctional Department was adamant about hiring me once I graduated with my Master’s Degree.”

He frowned at that. She’d given up on her dreams to get a job she wasn’t happy with? But there it was again, that haunting sense of realism. She’d never seemed to be much of an optimist. Maybe _that’s_ how she’d managed to last so long in the world the way it was today, especially when added to the fact that she’d dealt with convicts before the apocalypse broke out. That sense of realism was probably the thing they shared the most, their biggest similarity.

“Well surely ya kept writin’ after ya got the job?” he pressed.

But she just shook her head, a pout curling at her full lips, and said, “No. I just didn’t have the time for it anymore.”

He could tell from the pain in her voice that she’d regretted it.

But he knew now. She’d gone to college. She’d been the fucking Dr. Phil of the Penitentiary. She’d _never_ want anything to do with a man like him. He wasn’t her type at _all_, would _never_ be good enough for her. She’d probably dated some doctor or lawyer or something, some rich schmuck. And, to be honest, he didn’t know why it even mattered to him. It wasn’t like he had feelings for her, nothing more than the partnership they shared on trips like these, missions on which they were sent to find food and supplies for the rest of the group. It was just another harsh reminder that women weren’t exactly his strong suit, nor were they interested in him unless he was providing them with protection, food, or supplies.

Still, he couldn’t deny that Kali seemed to think of him as more than just a provider. She treated him like a real human being, something none of the other group members, even Merle, seemed to do most of the time.

“So… Where did you and Merle go when you guys traveled around?” she inquired, curiosity lighting up those bright green eyes.

He shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Just around the state. We usually stuck ta smaller towns unless we couldn’t get odd jobs there. We stayed in a few bigger cities though, when the smaller towns didn’t seem ta cut it anymore.”

Her ebony colored brows knitted together and she asked, “Well… Didn’t you guys ever leave the state?”

He shook his head and answered, “Nah. I’ve never been outta Georgia.”

She frowned at that. _Great._ Now there was _another_ reason he’d never be her type. Apparently she was a traveler.

“You?” he questioned.

She nodded her head and informed him, “I’ve been to or through 36 states and part of Ontario.”

His brows hiked up his forehead. _Yeah._ She was a traveler. And to make _that _many damn trips, she had to have come from money. Either that or she’d had to travel for her job. He didn’t really know much about that kind of work. For every thing he discovered that they had in common, there was just one more thing that set them apart.

“You travel for your job?” he asked her.

She shook her head, sitting up on the bed, and explained, “No. My father always wanted to go on ‘family vacations’. I can’t say that you’re missin’ out. I mean, sure. I loved the scenery during the ride. I loved finally getting to our destination and seeing what it had to offer. But the company sucked. Trips just aren’t any fun if you’re not going somewhere with people you enjoy spending time with.”

He shrugged. He supposed it was true. He couldn’t imagine going on a road trip with his family. His mom wouldn’t have been bad company but keeping Merle cooped up in a damn car for hours at a time would’ve made him edgy. And he wasn’t exactly a fun person when he was edgy. And his old man would’ve been likely to ditch them all somewhere and never look back.

“Where was your favorite place?” he pressed, forcing the idea of his family taking a trip out of his head before he could dwell on it too much.

She got a huge grin on her face and said, “Niagara Falls.”

His eyes widened. Holy shit! She really _had_ been far away then.

“Ain’t those the ones in New York?” Daryl asked her.

Kali just nodded and crawled towards the foot of the bed. Beau moved out of her way and she leaned over to grab her pack up off the floor.

She fished around inside of it for a minute and then held something out towards him. Daryl accepted it and gazed down at it, discovering that it was an old, crinkled postcard, the moonlight spilling in through the window beside the bed to play over the picture on the front of it. It was a picture of the falls. They were all lit up at night, the water taking on all the different colors of the rainbow.

“I’ve never seen anything like it…” she nearly whispered, “It was _beautiful_ during the day. But of a night… They lit it up, all different colors, and it was the prettiest damn thing I’ve ever seen. It was _breathtaking_.”

He just nodded before handing the old postcard back to her. He wondered what else she’d seen, where all she’d been.

“Looks nice,” he replied, knowing even as he said it that it sounded really lame but not really knowing what else to say.

“Someday, you and I are gonna leave Georgia, Dixon. And we’ll go _wherever_ you wanna go,” she told him.

He looked down at his lap as she tucked the postcard back into her bag and pulled something else out.

A tiny smile tugged at his lips at the idea of taking a trip that didn’t involve trying to scrounge up food for the rest of the group.

“So… Did you have a girlfriend or somethin’ before all this shit went down? A guy like you…? I bet the women were _trippin’_ over themselves to get atcha,” she commented.

He was quick to jerk his head around to look at her, his brows wrinkling, and she just blinked, asking, “What?”

Did she _honestly_ think that the women had lined up for a chance to go out with him? He _sure_ as hell wasn’t some damn prince charming! He wasn’t good looking. He wasn’t smart. He wasn’t charming. Hell he’d never been out on a _single_ fucking date. And here she thought the women were just “_trippin’_ over themselves to get at him”?

He gave a single snort of laughter and shook his head at her.

“Nah,” he answered, “I didn’t have a damn girlfriend.”

She frowned at that before giving a shrug.

“What about you?” he pressed, “You have a boyfriend?”

She looked down at what she was holding in her hands before offering it to him. He reached up as she handed it over to him and looked down at it. It was a photograph.

“His name was Julian…” she whispered as his eyes gazed down at the photo.

There was a man in the photograph with her, her arms wrapped around his neck as he held her on his back, his cheek pressed to hers. The man was giving her a piggyback ride. They were both grinning like fools for the camera.

Daryl had never seen Kali look that happy. Hell her moments of happiness were fleeting now, few and far between. But that came as no surprise, _especially _with the damn zombie apocalypse going on. But in that photo…

Daryl felt his gut clench with an unfamiliar feeling. Jealousy. It washed over him like a damn tidal wave. That man had held her in his arms. He’d made her smile and laugh. He’d known her in ways that _no_ one had ever known her before. Daryl didn’t even know the man but he _hated_ him instantly.

His eyes narrowed as he studied the man in the picture. He was wearing a white wife beater that showed off lean muscles. He had a slightly-mussed mop of ginger curls. His eyes were a pale gray color, brimming with excitement and happiness. His skin was of a medium tone, his features rugged and masculine. He had a firm jawline and facial hair above his upper lip, along his jawline, and on his chin. It was short, nothing bushy. His teeth were straight and brilliantly white, his smile just as charming as those of the actors on the damn TV.

There was no denying that most women would’ve creamed their panties for this guy. While he wasn’t the “classic, Hollywood hunk” kind of guy, he was still the kind of guy women flocked around. He didn’t know what he’d expected Kali’s taste in men to be like, but this guy certainly hadn’t been what he’d been expecting. They weren’t one of those perfectly matched couples that wore the same colors or had the same hair and eye color. But they were a _happy_ couple. That much was obvious. And Daryl hated the guy.

But, as Daryl took a closer look at the picture, he got the shock of a lifetime. There, on Kali’s left ring finger, was not only a small, diamond engagement ring but also a solid silver band. She’d been fucking _married!_

But he was snapped out of his thoughts when she started speaking.

“He was my best friend since kindergarten,” Kali informed him, “He was always there for me when I needed someone. He always stood up for me. Hell he’d beat the shit out of anyone that even _looked _at me funny. He was the closest friend I ever had, one of the few that didn’t wind up stabbing me in the back. We started dating in junior high I guess… Our 8th grade year. I left home the night of my high school graduation and he helped me. We packed all my shit, threw it into his truck, and took off. We never looked back either. We found a little apartment there in Atlanta. He just _insisted_ that I should go to college, that it was what I’d always wanted to do and he was going to do whatever he had to in order to make it happen.”

She gave a little laugh and continued on to say, “So he worked as a construction worker while I went to college. I honestly don’t know how we managed to make it, but we made ends meet somehow. After I graduated from college, I landed a job at the correctional facility there in Atlanta, the same one I’d done an internship for. And _God_ he was so proud of me. We got married when I was a sophomore in college. We decided to just have a small ceremony with his family, a few of my family members, and our close friends. We decided to take a road trip along the northeast coast for our honeymoon. He started talking about kids once I got settled into my job there at the Correctional Department. Hell we already had a dog. He wanted the whole nine yards. And I wanted it too. But then…”

She looked away, gazing out the window and swallowing hard before finally finishing, “Then things changed. My luck turned bad again and reality came knocking.”

Daryl’s brows rose sky high as he took in the information that she’d given him.

Her husband had been a _construction_ worker? She hadn’t gone for some stuck up rich boy? It just didn’t make sense. She’d gone for some guy that was a minimum wage worker, a manual labor kind of guy, a blue collar kind of guy. And she’d said that she’d thought Daryl was a construction worker too… What the hell did that mean? If her husband had been a construction worker and she’d been attracted to him… Could it mean that she was interested in Daryl?

He shook his head hard at himself. He couldn’t go thinking like that. Hell he didn’t know why he kept comparing himself to her and her taste in men anyway. He’d never be her type and he needed to just accept it. And besides, he didn’t need to spend his time thinking about a damn woman when the zombie apocalypse was going on.

They were partners when paired to work together to gather food and supplies for the group, nothing more.

Still, he couldn’t help but ask, “How come you didn’t date a shrink or a doctor or somethin’?”

She sneered at the idea and answered, “Because they were too damn stuck up. Most of them were anyway. My boss used to hit on me _all_ the time, try to invite me out for dinner or to any little staff outings they had. But I always came up with an excuse. I had Jules. He was the only man I ever had eyes for. I didn’t want anyone else. I mean, after all we’d been through together and the way that he was just so… sweet. No. He wasn’t some romantic schmuck or anything like that. But he let me know that he loved me in his own little ways. He showed me through his actions and he told me every so often. He was always finding little ways to let me know that he cared. He knew me better than I ever knew myself. It sounds fictional and cliché and cheesy but it’s true.”

He cocked one brow at her but she insisted, “I’d never believed in love before I met Jules. I thought it was just for the lucky ones. But he showed me what true love was. And I’ll always be indebted to him for that.”

“I _still _can’t believe ya didn’t marry a fuckin’ shrink,” Daryl stated.

She rolled her eyes and informed him, “I didn’t give a shit about the money, Daryl. I never have and I never will. I thought he was the hottest man I’d ever seen but that didn’t matter either. The more I learned about him, the more attracted to him I became. Looks were just a bonus as far as I was concerned. I fell in love with him because of who he was – the fact that he could make me laugh when I just wanted to cry or the time he woke me up to breakfast in bed. I loved him for making me smile when I’d had a rough day, for holding me in his arms and just listening when I needed someone to talk to. I fell in love with him because of how he _treated _me, Daryl. He had a heart of gold and he treated me like I was his everything, like I actually _mattered_… He loved me. And _that_ was good enough for me.”

Daryl chewed at the inside of his cheek as he thought about her confession. She didn’t give a shit about what this guy had done for a living, didn’t care how much he made. Hell she’d said she didn’t even care what he looked like! He hadn’t been romantic. He hadn’t spent a bunch of money on her. All that had mattered to her was how this guy had treated her.

He could understand her desire to have someone care about her though, to have someone love her. It was all he’d ever wanted when he was a kid. But those days were over now and he wasn’t stupid enough to believe that he’d find a woman that would love him now.

“God!” she cried suddenly, making him jump slightly, “What the hell am I saying? You don’t wanna hear all about my shitty life. I’m usually not like this when I drink. I’m giggly and flirty when I’m drunk, two things I haven’t been in a _long_ time. And, honestly, I’m not much of a flirt anyway unless it’s behind closed doors. I don’t do that PDA shit. It’s just not my style. But I’m sure you don’t wanna hear about _that_ either. A guy like you would _never_ be interested in a girl like me, Dixon.”

“The hell’s that supposed ta mean?” he snarled, glaring over at her as he narrowed those crystal blue orbs.

What was she trying to say? That he wasn’t good enough for her?

She gave a laugh that lacked any humor as she explained, “You’re a good guy, Daryl. You’re like my Jules was in a _lot_ of ways. There might’ve been _plenty_ of men that were interested in me over the years but only _one_ of ‘em was a good man. Good men just aren’t attracted to me. It’s the family curse. It started with mom, worked its way down to me, and even my baby sister got bit by the curse.”

His brows wrinkled up in confusion and she looked down at her lap, murmuring quietly, “You’re too damn good for me, Daryl. Ya don’t deserve any more hell than you’ve already been through and ya didn’t deserve any of that shit to begin with. You’re better off without me. I’m bad news. Hell if it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all. The only good man that was ever in my life…”

She cut herself off and shook her head hard, as if she was trying to rid herself of whatever thoughts were plaguing her mind.

He jerked his head back a little. _He_ was too good for _her?_ Where the hell was this shit coming from? Hell most women thought he wasn’t good enough for _them!_ Not only that but most people hadn’t wanted to be caught _dead_ with him. They hadn’t wanted to be associated with him before the zombie apocalypse and all they wanted from him now was food, protection, or supplies.

“Ugh!” she exclaimed, slapping the palm of her hand to her forehead with a loud _SMACK_.

She rubbed her hand down over her face and groaned before informing him, _“God_ I’m depressing tonight. I don’t know if it’s the booze talkin’ or the damn shit storm that’s become my life but I’m gonna piss and then I’m gonna go the fuck to sleep. I’ve already ruined your night enough. I’m sorry, Daryl.”

With that being said, she slid from the bed and headed for the bathroom.

When she returned, she slid under the covers and patted the spot beside her for the shaggy mutt to curl up beside her, which he was quick to do. She wrapped an arm around him and snuggled up to him, tugging the covers up over them.

“Mmm… Night, Beau,” she told the dog.

It was silent for a few moments before she finally added, “Night, Daryl.”

“Night,” he replied.

She’d sure as hell given him a _lot_ to think about.

** _~*Kalina*~_ **

** **

_Kalina darted into the old barn, Daryl right behind her. He closed the door behind him and they both grabbed a thick, sturdy board to shove between the doors and the handles, barring the double doors._

_The doors rattled a little but the walkers weren’t strong enough to make the doors move inward. Instead, they shoved at the door just hard enough to make it emit a rattling noise each time they pushed against it._

_“You think that’ll hold ‘em?” she questioned, glancing up at him._

_Those crystal blue orbs gazed down at her and he nodded, replying, “Yeah. Should hold ‘em. If not, we’ve got…”_

_He looked around the barn before smirking and replying, “Scythes, pitchforks, shovels. Hell take your pick.”_

_She giggled at that and shook her head._

_It seemed that his sense of humor was just as sick and twisted as hers. But the zombie apocalypse would do that to a person._

_“SO…” she pondered out loud, “What the fuck are we gonna do ‘til they go away?”_

_Her eyes roamed around the barn and a frown curled at her lips when she didn’t spot anything to amuse themselves with._

_Finally, her gaze found him again and she froze._

_The smell of your bare skin _  
The touch of your fingertips   
The sweet taste of your lips   
Your eyes that pull me in   
  
I dont wanna wake up if I‘m not alive   
Everything I gave up is worth the other side   
I wanna feel you, taste you, touch you   
So what you got for me?   
I wanna feel you, taste you, touch you.   
So what you got for me?   
  
You know just what to say   
To make me melt away   
And everything to do   
To make me come again   
  
I dont wanna wake up if I’m not alive   
Everything I gave up is worth the other side   
I wanna feel you, taste you, touch you.   
So what you got for me?   
I wanna feel you, taste you, touch you.   
So what you got for me? 

_Got for me?_

_What you got for me?_  
  
I wanna feel you, taste you, touch you.   
So what you got for me?   
I wanna feel you, taste you, touch you.   
So what you got for me?

_I wanna feel you, taste you, touch you. _  
So what you got for me?   
I wanna feel you, taste you, touch you.   
So what you got for me?

_And what she found surprised her. There was a look in his eyes that she’d never seen before. Something intense. Something… undeniable. His eyes were slightly darker, a little heavy-lidded, like smoldering sapphires._

_No. There was NO way in hell that that was desire. Daryl Dixon would NEVER want a woman like her. And he’d be a HELL of a lot better off WITHOUT her. She was nothing but bad luck. It was just a matter of time before one of them hurt the other._

_“Daryl –,” she started._

_But he closed the distance between them, his hand reaching out to cup the back of her head. His fingers sifted through her short, shaggy, raven-colored hair as he gazed down at her. She’d never seen such intensity in his gaze, had never seen this side of him before._

_She felt her breath catch in her throat. Her heart stopped beating altogether before it began to race, beating frantically against her ribcage._

_“This isn’t smart –,” she tried to caution him once again._

_But he just cut her off, demanding, “Tell me ya don’t want this.”_

_How the fuck could she do that? How could she tell him she didn’t want him when he was looking at her like that, like she was the sexiest woman alive? Like she was a tall glass of water and he was dying of thirst? Like he wanted her more than anything? Like he NEEDED her?_

_Her train of thought was derailed when he closed the gap, slowly leaning in towards her, giving her time to back out if she wanted to. Her gaze flickered from those crystal blue orbs to his thin lips, which were slightly parted, and back again._

_“Daryl…” she sighed._

_But this time it wasn’t a protest. This time it was a plea._

_His lips met hers and she let her eyes drift shut, basking in the warmth of his lips against hers, the soft, thin lips that were pressed to her full ones. She wanted to slide her tongue out of her mouth, to taste him, explore his mouth, but she just couldn’t seem to get the stubborn thing to mind. Instead, she felt her hands reaching out to fist themselves in his leather vest, trying to steady herself as she felt her knees growing weak. For fuck’s sake all he’d done was press his lips to hers and she was already weak in the fucking knees!_

_His tongue slowly slid out of his mouth, tracing her lower lip, from one corner of her mouth to the other. When he’d finished tracing her lower lip, he trailed his tongue over her top one before slowly sliding his tongue into her mouth._

_She felt him flicking the tip of his tongue against hers. He teased and taunted before swirling his tongue around hers a few times. She gave chase and he rewarded her with a little groan._

_He took his time, exploring every little nook and cranny of her mouth, claiming it as his own and rewarding her when she submitted to him. She loved the warm, wet glide, loved the way he used that wicked tongue to massage her own and incorporated his lips to suck at it. He even used his teeth to nip and nibble at her lips as his free hand found its way down to her hip, guiding her closer until her body was flush up against his and holding her in place._

_He tipped her head back slightly, using his grip in her hair to tug gently, maneuvering her the way he wanted to. She gave in with a tiny moan. Her hands slid up from his chest, finding their way to his neck and on up into his hair. All 10 of her fingers fisted in the shaggy, brown locks. They were so soft, so thick. She’d always wanted to fist her hands in it, to run her fingers through it. And now she FINALLY had the chance._

_Kali teased his tongue, wanting to prove to him that she could please him too, that she wasn’t one of those women that made the man do all the work while she just laid back and enjoyed it. He gave chase and she captured his tongue between her lips, sucking at it. She sucked gently at first, wanting to see how he’d react before she got too enthused. He groaned into her mouth and his hand slowly wandered down and around from her hip, filling itself with the ample, well-rounded swell of her ass over her jeans. She moaned into his mouth, a throaty noise that sounded more like a purr than anything. He voiced a low purr of his own and gave her a firm squeeze. She sucked greedily on his tongue and he ground his hips against her, making her gasp into his mouth._

_Daryl started walking forward, forcing her to back up as he navigated her over towards one of the pillars that held the barn up. He brought both of his large hands down to her ass, hoisting her up onto his hips._

_Kali wrapped her slender legs around his waist without hesitation, locking them tight around him, wanting to feel him pressed right up against her. She tipped her head back, her eyes still shut as she drew in deep breaths, her fingers still fisted in his hair. She didn’t want to let him go, didn’t want even a FRACTION of an inch between them. She didn’t want him to stop kissing her, stop touching her._

_And he didn’t._

_His greedy mouth started pressing hot, wet, open-mouthed kisses along her jaw, heading down the side of her neck. His tongue lapped over her skin before his lips closed and he moved down lower, his mouth following the neckline of her black wife beater._

_He ground himself against her, those strong hands squeezing at her ass and tugging her up against him to meet each thrust of his powerful hips, and she couldn’t fight the gasp that spilled from her lips as she felt him starting to perk up in those holey, black jeans._

_“Oh God, Daryl…” she sighed, tipping her head back down again to peer down at him._

_She found those breathtaking blue eyes fastened to her, his eyes now darkened to the color of midnight sapphires as he lightly sank his teeth into the rise of her right breast._

_She tipped her head back, a moan coursing up from her chest as her calves pressed against his ass, her hips rocking against his and her fingers fisting tighter in his hair. She was rewarded by the groan that rumbled against her soft, sensitive skin._

_He eased his mouth back and she whimpered at the loss, a pout curling her full lips even as she tilted her head down again to meet his gaze._

_“Tell me ta stop,” he challenged, “Tell me ya don’t want this, that ya haven’t thought about this.”_

_“I… can’t,” she finally admitted, “If I did, it’d be a fucking lie.”_

_The next thing she knew, he was moving again, carrying her over to lay her down on a big pile of hay. She couldn’t help but laugh at the idea of them rolling around in a pile of hay during the fucking zombie apocalypse of all things!_

_But her laughter was cut short when his mouth met hers. She let one of her hands slide out of his hair, roaming down his body. That hand worked its way down over the leather that covered his back and snuck under the waistband of his jeans, under the cotton of his boxers, to find his bare skin._

_She filled her hand with his firm ass, squeezing and pressing against him as she parted her thighs for him in a silent but blatant invitation, letting him get situated in-between them. She rocked up to meet him, pressing against him as she did._

_He groaned as he sank his teeth into her neck and she tipped her head back, voicing a throaty purr of pleasure. She moaned as he flicked his hips down into hers. She couldn’t help it. He was so hard for her, so fucking irresistible. And he was sinfully delicious._

_His mouth tasted like cinnamon and chocolate, spicy and yet sweet. She couldn’t get enough of his taste, couldn’t get enough of his scent, like the woods and sweat and something musky. He was undeniably masculine, so firm and strong and solid. She never wanted his hands to stop roaming over her body, never wanted him to stop kissing her, never wanted this moment to end._

_“Daryl…” she whispered._

_He eased his lips away from her neck, pulling his head back to gaze down at her, those shaggy bangs falling into his eyes._

_“I NEED you…” she told him, her voice barely more than a whisper._

_But it was out there. She’d finally said it. Not ONCE had she ever voiced her deep-seated desire to have him near. Not ONCE had she ever given him any hints about the more primal desire she had for him, the more carnal thoughts she’d had about him. But she was telling him now, hoping that it would prompt him into action._

_And it did._

_Daryl nodded his head and sat back, tugging her up with him. His big hands worked at her top, shoving the black wife beater up and over her head to let it fall carelessly to the floor. He licked his lips as his eyes fastened to her simple, black, nylon bra, her ample cleavage spilling out of the cups. She knew those hands would be big enough to cup her breasts in them. She was only a 28C, not large but big enough to entice the opposite sex._

_“Daryl, your shirt,” Kali pointed out, “Take it off.”_

_He smirked at that, giving a low chuckle, but nodded. He shoved his vest off first and then started working on the buttons of his sleeveless shirt._

_“Since when did ya get so bossy?” he teased._

_“Since I’m fucking ACHING to have your cock inside of me,” she confessed, her greedy eyes feasting on every inch of bare skin he revealed to her._

_His fingers fumbled and he looked up at her, his eyes growing even darker as they met her bright green ones._

_She reached out and yanked at the two sides of his shirt, sending the remaining buttons flying everywhere. But she didn’t care. And neither did Daryl._

_With a low growl, he was on her again, pushing her back onto the mound of hay and working one hand slowly up her denim-clad thigh, starting at her knee and making a slow trek up the length of her thigh. His fingertips trailed up the inside of her thigh until they met their destination. He cupped her in his big hand and gave her a firm squeeze. She gave a loud, throaty moan and arched up into his hand._

_“So responsive…” he praised, rewarding her with that crooked little grin she’d come to love._

_“Fuck!” she cursed, reaching out to claw at his belt, “Daryl, PLEASE. If I don’t have your cock inside of my pussy in the next 20 seconds I’m gonna fuckin’ SCREAM.”_

_He chuckled but was quick to lean back, working his belt open and popping the button on his jeans. He slid the zipper down and shoved his jeans and boxers down just below his ass._

_“YOUR turn, sweetheart,” he practically purred._

_She nearly melted, right then and there. The man’s voice was like liquid sex and it did things to her that should’ve been illegal in all 50 states._

_Instead of melting in a Kali-sized puddle of goo, however, her fingers scrambled over the clasp of her own belt and she yanked it open, tackling the button next and finally the zipper. She shoved and pushed, working her jeans and her panties down her long legs, her eyes never leaving the long, hard, thick cock that was standing at full attention for her, bobbing against his stomach. GOD he was packing. He had to be a good 7 1/2 inches or more!_

_Kali felt him tugging at her jeans, pulling them off of her, and then her panties met the rest of the pile of clothes that was gathering there on the floor of the barn before he eased her back down onto the hay again and took his place between her thighs._

_“You’ve done this before, right?” he asked her, those sapphire orbs peering down at her._

_She nodded her head and answered, “Yes. It’s been a while. But yes. I’ve done this before.”_

_“’M gonna make sure you enjoy this,” he promised even as she felt him guide the broad head of his cock to her hot, wet, eager entrance._

_“You ready?” he asked her._

_“Never been more ready in my fucking life, Daryl,” she answered, eager for him to just get on with it._

_He nodded to her and she felt him start to push inside._

************

Kali jerked in her sleep, her eyes snapping open and a gasp spilling from her lips as she felt something move beside her. She sat bolt upright in bed and her eyes met the object that had moved against her thigh.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she discovered that it was just Beau. He’d shifted in his sleep while he slept beside her. Now he peered up at her with confusion and concern filling those dark brown eyes.

“Shh… I’m all right, buddy,” she reassured the dog, gently scratching behind his ears.

She brought her hands up to run them through her hair.

_Damn_ her unconscious mind! It was bad enough that she’d had a nightmare about Daryl’s death last night. But now she was dreaming about _fucking_ him? She just couldn’t catch a break!

She gave a groan and flopped back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“Whazza matter?” she heard Daryl question in the dark, “Have a bad dream?”

“No,” she answered honestly, “I actually had a good one this time, the first happy dream in four fucking months. I just woke up too damn soon.”

He chuckled at that and shook his head.

If he only knew.

** Lyrics from the Songs: **

_House Lights_ by Steven Strait

_What You’ve Got for Me _by Nonpoint

**I know. I’m evil. The death wasn’t exactly a death. The 20 questions were a little silly. And the smut was strategically designed to tease you. Gotta keep you interested in reading more, now don’t I? And how else am I going to get any reviews or messages? So, if you ever want to see more Darli – yes, this is a ransom of sorts – then you’ll be a good little reader and let me know what you think. What parts did you like and why? What parts did you hate and why? Let me know everything. I’m a greedy little bitch. I want _all_ the juicy details. So don’t be afraid to lay it on me.**

**And now, my favorite time: Thank yous!**

**To Shadows7X: I love you to death, dear, and I wouldn’t have made it to this point with my writing if it wasn’t for you. I miss your detailed reviews. They always cracked me up and made me grin from ear to ear. I know your busy and _you_ know that I understand that. You’ll get back to me when you can and I know it’ll be worth it when you do.**

**To Mizu: It’s always a pleasure to read your messages, dear. I can’t imagine how crazy your life is right now and yet you always seem to find the time to shoot me a few messages and keep me in the loop. I always enjoy our conversations and I look very forward to your reviews. You’re an amazing friend, dear, and I only hope that I’m half as good to you as you are to me.**

**To Borch: I’m awful glad to have you as a friend, dear. You always manage to find a way to message me and check in with me. It’s so nice to have that, to have someone that wants to see how I’m doing or how college is going or whatever. I always look forward to your messages and I sure as hell enjoy our Mac conversations.**

**If I missed anyone, please don’t hesitate to let me know.**

**I’d just like to remind you all that I _do_ genuinely want to hear from all of you and I _do_ really appreciate any and all feedback that you’re willing to give. _All_ comments, concerns, questions, or suggestions are _more_ than welcome and I _do_ take the time to read them all over and get back to those that send me messages and reviews. If you _are_ interested in helping me out by reading the chapters before I post them and offering any feedback you can – whether it’s comments on what you liked and didn’t like about the chapter, questions you had about why I did this or that, suggestions on how I can improve the chapter or ideas for future chapters, or concerns about where I’m currently taking the story, _please_ don’t hesitate to message me and let me know. You can also do so in a review if you so choose. Let’s not forget here that I eat your messages and reviews up like Dove’s chocolates.**


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